


Rude Awakening

by mjolnirsvn



Series: You know you love me.. [1]
Category: Gossip Girl
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-07 04:41:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11051538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mjolnirsvn/pseuds/mjolnirsvn
Summary: Chuck and Dan have a fight, spend the night in jail,  and a switch is thrown.





	1. Well.. that was unexpected.

It happened.

  
I won’t pretend to know why, but it did.

One night in a jail cell with someone that I swore to hate for as long as I lived, and it all came crashing down. One fleeting moment of what I think was vulnerability.. shared so openly.. has destroyed a wall that I didn’t even know was there. 

I’ve always known I was bisexual. I did not, however, for a second think that it could ever be extended so far as to have an interest in said in-the-moment-vulnerable man.

 

That man being one Charles Bartholomew Bass.

I couldn’t help it, the look he gave me. Telling me about his mother. It gave me a glimpse into a version of Bass that no one has ever seen before. 

He just stood there, staring at me. His eyes scarlet red and that jaw of his so tightly locked into place. Trying, and failing, to not show how hurt he was. How much I had hurt him for writing what I did. It almost looked like he was trying to hide something else, but I was too busy reeling from the immediate guilt I felt when I had looked at him to try and look further into his eyes. 

Hell, I was also still drunk at that point so I could have just been reading into it.

But really.. what even am I reading into? A single moment in time where Chuck, for once in his life, actually seemed to be a normal human being and not.. Chuck? Well.. there was that other look too- the one that kind of got me into this emotional mess.

Either way, I’m screwed. I’m sitting here.. willing for everything to go back. For tonight to have never happened. For me to stay blissfully unaware of the fact that my hatred for Chuck Bass may have been something else the entire time. 

I hate myself so much. Why am I doing this again? 

Oh, yeah. Because while I’m sitting here wallowing in self pity and hatred, I’m also drinking heavily. Again. In the same night.

Whoops. Probably shouldn’t do that.

Oh well. 

 

============

 

I saw him today, not for any reason or anything. I didn’t seek him out.

It just happened. Again.

These instances should really stop occurring, sooner rather than later. Even though this is the first.

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even have control over myself when I froze. I just stood there on the sidewalk, staring out across the street when I saw him walking out the doors of the Empire.

He looked so unfazed. Like nothing was wrong. Like what had happened that previous night didn’t happen at all. He just seemed like his normal self. Just an asshole going about his business.

I’m not jealous. He doesn’t have to deal with any of these emotions that make no logical sense. I shouldn’t feel this way about Chuck, and yet here I am. 

What the fuck is wrong with me?

He looked up though. Not at me… but it looked like it was in my general direction. I even think I saw him pause for the shortest of seconds, but for what felt like an eternity to me.

I wanted to call out.. but I don’t have that right. Not after what I did. I never will have that right.

But that’s okay.

The more I think about it, the more I want to fix it. I can’t go back and change what I did, or even stop it.

But I can try to fix the damage that I have done.

The damage caused by a fight, caused by me writing several false stories about everyone I knew, caused by me just being stupid.

I’ll call Serena. She’s never judged me.. too harshly. She might for this though. She is the best friend of Blair.. and she was included in what I wrote… maybe if I come clean about everything and how I felt.. and maybe beg a lot.. she might look at it from my angle.

What even is my angle? I saw a piece of Chuck that probably no one else ever has, and then latched onto it like it was some kind of invitation and am now being pathetic about it?

  

**_D - Can I see you later? Or sometime soon?_ **

**_S - Sure. Just come by anytime today. I’m not doing anything. I’m sure that’s a shock._ **

 

Okay, that was fair. I deserved that.

Still hurt though.

 

============

 

I made a journey of my.. trek.I walked the entire way. I needed the time to think about what I was going to say.. if I was going to say anything at all about Chuck. I did actually need to apologize to her, and I didn’t exactly want to hijack the conversation directly into Chuck.. and now the elevator is dinging and I should really start paying attention.

     “Hey… I just wanted to talk to you about some— stuff.”

 

Wow. Way to go Dan. As poetic as you could ever be.. that is your opening liner? Great.

 

     “I figured.”

 

Well now that was short. Even for Serena.

 

     “I don’t really know what to say exactly and I’m not gonna try and pretend that I didn’t just walk this entire way thinking of how to approach this so I’m just gonna power through it. I’m sorry Serena. For what happened. I know there isn’t much at all I can do to make up for it, but I’m here in person apologizing because you deserve that.”

 

Well.. that sounded okay. I think… but.. wait why is she giving me that look?

And now she’s laughing. Why is she laughing.

 

     “Dan.. it’s fine. What you did was awful, but it’s not anything that Gossip Girl hasn’t said about any of us before… Don’t look at me like that.. trust me it’s fine.”

 

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t instantly feel guilty at the mention of Gossip Girl. Since I am the root cause of a lot of my.. ex-girlfriends hurt and pain over the years—

 

     “Okay.. so.. you don’t hate me? … You really don’t? … Wow okay then.. Are you sure?-“

 

     “Yes, Dan, I’m sure. I was hurt at first.. but you’re here apologizing. And that means something to me so..”

 

“Oh, okay. Well, there is something else though.. but I don’t know how to say it and strangely enough I cant find myself a way to ramble about it like I just did before-”

 

The look she just gave me tells me she’s confused.

Huh. I just confused Serena.

 

     “Well.. if it’s something that you can’t ramble about.. how serious is it?”

 

     “Pretty serious. Like, almost deadly serious.. No not like that! I wouldn’t actually die.. maybe.

 

     “Dan just tell me.”

 

     “You’ll judge me.”

 

     “Dan, I promise I wont.”

 

============

 

     ”So.. you started a fight with Chuck, ended up in jail, somehow got him worked up enough to talk about his mom, thought you saw something else, and now you’re smitten with him? Dan?!”

 

     “Okay first off, he picked a fight with me. He punched first, I didn’t even swing back. A few off duty guys were in the same bar.. and they called it in or whatever. I don’t know. We ended up in the same cell, and he just.. started talking. I didn’t actually do anything during any of this. This was all on him, and I am telling you.. that wasn’t the Chuck Bass we know. Serena, you should have seen the way he looked at me.”

 

At this point her eye rolls are just getting only slightly annoying. I get that she doesn’t understand.. she wasn’t there. At least she hasn’t rolled out the judgmental red carpet yet.

 

     “Dan. I just don’t get it. Why Chuck? You saw him sad, and crying. Now all of a sudden you’re changing your entire view of him?”

 

     “Serena.. I felt terrible. I still feel terrible. I can’t put it into enough words to describe to you how much I regret writing everything that I did. It was beyond disrespectful to write about his.. mommy issues. Especially since I didn’t even know what happened exactly- NOT that it changes anything because I shouldn’t have wrote those pages in the first place. I obviously crossed a line. A line big enough to bring down the mask of Chuck.”

 

     “Well.. Okay then. I still don’t get it, Dan, but I’ll take your word for it. You hurt him, now you’re upset and thinking you were wrong about Chuck the entire time, and now for some reason have feelings for him?”

 

     “I just.. I don’t know if you can call them feelings? I mean, I definitely feel something now.. but I don’t know if it’s just me wanting to fix what I did and to try and make it up to Chuck-“

 

     “Dan I really think you’re just reading into this, I don’t think he’d even want to talk to you after all of this happening. Considering it hasn’t even been 24 hours.”

 

     “Serena, you didn’t see his face. I hurt him, and I’ve never felt so guilty and ashamed before in my life. But I didn’t just see pain.. I saw something else. I just don’t know what it was. But I want to know.”

 

     “Okay, okay, okay.. fine.”

 

     “Will you help me?”

 

     “I guess.. a mission to help you figure out what’s wrong with Chuck that is only going to end in disaster? What’s not to look forward to?”

 

I couldn’t help but smile at her. Even after everything, she’s deciding to be here for me.

God bless her.

 

============

 

So it turns out that Serena’s idea for a plan was just to text Chuck. Obviously without mentioning that I’m there sitting with her. I’m not exactly putting a lot of faith into.. whatever it is she’s about to do.

 

**_S - Hey, what are you up to?_ **

**_C - Setting fire to lower Manhattan.. what do you think I’m doing?_ **

**_S - I don’t know.. that’s why I asked.._ **

**_C - Why the sudden fascination with what I’m doing during the day?_ **

 

Okay so I really don’t understand what Serena thought she was going to accomplish with this.

 

**_S - I can’t just text you and see what you’re up to? Maybe I wanted to talk!_ **

**_C - Is Humphrey with you?_ **

 

_Jesus_ Chuck is terrifying. How in the hell?

 

**_S - No, why do you think he is?_ **

**_C - Probably because I drove by him walking into the lobby of your building._ **

 

God dammit. Maybe he isn’t actually scary and just pays attention, unlike me. But then again.. why would I have thought about looking for limos before I walked up here..

 

**_C - I’m also assuming he’s said something to you aboutthe other night._ **

**_C - I’m, again, also assuming he’s telling you some crap story about wanting to apologize?_ **

**_S - Well.. I wouldn’t say it’s a crap story.. He actually does want to apologize._ **

**_C - Is he still there or has he went into puppy dog mode yet and ran out?_ **

**_S - No, he’s still here. Why?_ **

**_C - I’ll be there in a second._ **

 

Wow so that is not what I expected to come out of this conversation. He’s coming here willingly.. to hear me apologize..? Now it’s my turn to call bullcrap.

 

     “There’s no way. No. Way. He gave in that easy.”

 

     “Well.. Chuck is unpredictable.”

 

     “He can’t possibly want to hear me apologize..”

 

     “Well, Dan you’re the one that said you wanted to. You said you’re rethinking how you thought he was, don’t go and start reverting back to old ways now..”

 

     “Yeah.. yeah. Okay. Fine. Just.. call the cops if he tries to kill me, will you?

 

     “Sure thing..”

 

============

 

And there he is. Just as I saw him earlier today.. looking like an asshole going about his business. Except now he just looks irritated that I interrupted.. whatever business he was doing. He’s just standing there glaring at me, and yet all I see is a mask. I’m not looking at the real Chuck. I’m looking at a Chuck that throws up a front just to get people to leave him alone.

Except I don’t want to leave him alone. I don’t want to see this mask that Chuck has. I want to see the real Chuck.. the one I think I saw the other night.. the one that let his everything out.. The Chuck with big brown eyes that felt like they were staring into my soul trying to communicate a message to me that I couldn’t receive.  
  
Nothing has even been said and I’ve already made up my mind.

I’m going to fix Chuck Bass.

 

     “What do you want Humphrey.”

 

Here it goes..

 

     “I.. just wanted to apologize. To you. About the other night, and for what I did. It was awful, and unforgivable-“

 

     “You’re correct on that.”

 

     “-and I feel terrible-“

 

     “Do you think I care?”

 

     “I know you probably think that you don’t.”

 

He flinched. He actually flinched. I made Chuck Bass flinch.. and now he looks angrier, but this time it’s directed at Serena.

 

      “Hey uh.. Serena.. could you give us a minute.. alone? I kind of want to do this alone with Chuck.”

 

And without a word, she’s gone. God bless her.

 

     “Look.. I know you probably don’t want to talk about it. But that night.. I know I hurt you. I disrespected you in the worst possible way for writing what I did. I feel nothing but shame, for writing what I did, and most of all for hurting you.”

 

This time.. the anger has been replaced with.. a look of disgust? No, no.. just really pinched confusion.. I think?

 

     “Why do you care, Humphrey?”

 

     “Because.. that night in the cell.. I thought I saw something. Yes.. you were crying.. but I thought I saw.. I don’t know what I saw. Raw pain, and something. It hit me. Hard.”

 

     “That doesn’t answer my question, Humphrey.”

 

     “I know, I know.. I just don’t know how to put this into words. I saw how hurt you were, and I wanted to fix it. I want to fix it. I never wanted to inflict that much pain on someone, and I never want to see you look like that ever again.”

 

     “Humphrey, you’d have to actually be someone important enough in my life to see my face enough times in order for that to happen to begin with.

 

      "Yes, I know.. but that can change? My mom left us.. not in the same way your mother left.. but it still hurt. Still hurts even right now. I don’t want you to be alone for that.”

 

He just squinted at me.. very minutely but I could still catch it. He's probably just trying to decide if I’m lying or not… but this is dragging out. Why is he not saying anything?

 

     “I’ll think about it, Humphrey.”

 

     “Oh.. really? I- wasn’t expecting that to.. be so easy?”

 

     “I said I’ll think about it, not that I would bring you into my inner circle. You’re still on my shit-list.”

 

Ah.. well.. I’ll take that over nothing.

 

     “Okay.. okay. So- uh. I'm just gonna.. go now.”

 

I started to walk out of the room, but he grabbed my arm when I got past him.

 

     “I’ll get your number from Serena.. and you’ll have to make up for everything. I hope you can keep up.”

 

Why did he just look down at his hand.. and.. did I just feel his thumb rub my arm? What?

 

     “Uh.. yeah sure. That’s fine, Chuck-“

 

I’d really like to leave the room now before I somehow end up ruining the chance I’ve just been given.. but he won’t let go of my arm..

 

     “Uh.. Chuck.. can I go or..?”

 

He just looked down at his hand again.. and let go with a small nod.

Why do I have a feeling that something else just happened there?

I really wish Gossip Girl worked inside of peoples minds sometimes.

 

============

 

Three days. It’s been three days, and I have yet to hear from Chuck. I even checked in with Serena, she did in fact give him my number. So why is this taking so long? It’s not like I was getting anxious or anything.. Okay that’s a lie because I am anxious. Anxious as all hell. I have no idea what he will want to do. I have no idea what I’m going to do. Am I going to be able to handle.. whatever it is that he expects me to do? Not that I’m expecting him wanting me to do anything but it is still Chuck Bass I’m dealing with and-

Stop. You’re rambling again. My internal monologue isn’t gonna help anything.

A walk might help.. so.. let’s go for a walk.

 

————

 

Okay scratch that. I’m not sure why I thought taking a cab to the Upper East Side for a walk would be a good idea.. because now I’m anxious again. What if I run into Chuck? What if I run into Serena? How do I explain walking around the Upper East Side in the dark with no one else with me when I live in Brooklyn..

It was a while before I noticed the limo tailing me.. well. Tailing me as far as just following me the last 3 blocks.. I’m afraid to turn around just in case it’s-

 

     “Humphrey!”

 

Of course it’s Chuck.

 

     “Hey man! What are you doing up here.. driving around-“

 

     “What are you doing on the Upper East Side? You live in Brooklyn. And no one is with you.”

 

     “I.. I uh.. went for a walk.”

 

     “All the way from Brooklyn.. to here..”

 

Yeah, that wasn’t very convincing. I probably should have came up with a better story before I left the loft..

 

     “Yeah.. I.. like walking around up here. But I didn’t walk here. I took a cab. Then I just started.. walking. Yeah. Just walking.”

 

Through the rolled down window I can barely make out the eye roll he just gave me.. awesome.

 

     “Get in.”

 

     “W-What?”

 

     “I said get in Humphrey.”

 

And so I did.

 

     “So.. Chuck.. what are you doing out?”

 

     “I’m always out.”

 

     “That doesn’t really answer my question..”

 

     “I didn’t want to be in my room at the Empire.. so I’m out here. Riding around.”

 

     “Oh.. sounds.. fun?”

 

     “What do you know about fun?”

 

      “I’m not really sure I understand what you mean, Chuck. I’m a fun guy!”

 

The look he just gave me could wither an entire forest into oblivion.. I’m apparently not the most convincing man under pressure..

 

      “That remains to be seen. But, I really just am out to be out. I’m not in the mood to do anything, as far as bars and clubs go.”

 

For some reason I couldn’t help my immediate interest in whether or not that had a different meaning.. One of my heads is being a traitor.. and why did he give me that look?

Is that a smirk? Oh god.. did I just say that thought out loud.. oh god. Please, no.

 

     “Why are you looking panicked, Humphrey?”

 

     “I-I don’t know what you mean..”

 

     “Your face just flashed like you thought of something uncomfortable.”

 

     “Oh, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

 

He paused then..

 

     “I would never worry about you, Humphrey.”

 

Okay.. ouch. So.. is this our first moment where I try to fix what happened and make up for it?

 

     “Well.. that’s fine. But, uh, is.. this my first chance to try and.. fix.. what I did?”

 

He looked me up and down just then.. Jesus. I shouldn’t find that hot. I’m supposed to be concerned for him. A concerned.. acquaintance that just wants to.. make sure he’s okay. But also simultaneously turned on-

STOP.

 

     “I guess it can be. If you’d calm down. I’m not going to hurt you Humphrey.”

 

Is that supposed to be comforting?

 

     “But I’m not going to take you out tonight. Like I said, I don’t want to do anything. So we can just ride around New York and talk.”

 

     “Okay..”

 

     “If you can manage to pull your head out of your ass and actually speak.”

 

     “Right, yeah.. I’m sorry. I kind of didn’t prepare myself for this. I’m not entirely sure what to say-“

 

     “You better think of something quick because-“

 

     “Are you okay?”

 

That earned me a pause.. a blank stare. Or wait, a puzzled stare? Is that a puzzled look? I’ve never seen Chuck look puzzled..

 

     “I’m.. fine. For the most part. Although I still don’t understand why you care.”

 

I already said why I cared..

 

     “Look Chuck.. I already told you. I want to make it up to you. I told you how I felt.”

 

Well, not entirely. How exactly do you explain to someone that one single moment somehow made you attracted to them, when based on the context of what happened alone would make you sound insane?

 

     “I wasn’t aware that you felt anything.”

 

What?

 

     “Huh?”

 

     “I wasn’t aware that you felt enough for me in order to care to begin with. You didn’t seem to care at all before, and you certainly didn’t seem to care when you wrote what you did about me. What was it that you called me, again? An emotionally vacant trust fund baby with mommy and daddy issues?”

 

Fuck. Why did I write that, why didn’t I just write that in more subtle.. No. I shouldn’t have wrote anything at all. That’s the point.

 

     “Chuck.. I’m sorry man.. I- shouldn’t have wrote any of that. I shouldn’t have wrote anything to begin with. I was.. angry at the time and decided to take it out on a story.”

 

     “That’s not an excuse.”

 

     “No no, you’re right. It’s not an excuse. I didn’t mean it to be one. I was just.. saying. I was angry. Upset about something. I don’t even remember what it was. It might have had something to do with you but I can’t remember.”

 

     “So I hurt you, and you hurt me back.”

 

I paused..

 

     “More or less.”

 

     “But you ended up making me suffer.”

 

     “Did I?”

 

     “You did. You made me out to be some kind of.. shell of a person. You don’t even know me.”

 

     “Well.. it’s not like I would.. the only interactions I’ve ever had with you have been back and forth insults Chuck.”

 

A pause from him.. and a wondering look.. well.. at least that’s what I think it is from the lights reflected on his face from the buildings we keep driving by.

You know.. I’ve always thought Chuck (besides being a complete douche bag) was good looking.. but this.. what I’m seeing right now? It’s oddly.. beautiful? He’s relaxed.. just sitting there.. his head tilted to the side and down a little bit.. staring up at me with a slight.. smile on his face? Why is he smiling? Am I staring?

 Oh god I’ve been staring, but he also hasn’t said anything back..

 

     “You got me on that one, Daniel.”

 

Thank god.. finally. I was also holding my breath without realizing it. Okay, now.. breath slowly Dan.. There you go. Also, I got one on him? And did he just call me Daniel?

 

     “Did you just admit.. to me having somewhat of a point?”

 

     “Don’t let it go to your head, Humphrey.”

 

Which head- STOP. Seriously.. there’s nothing sexual about this conversation. I need to calm down- wait what did he just pour.. and why is he giving me this?

 

     “You look like you’re about to die, Humphrey. Chill out. I’m not in the mood for someone keeling over in my limo.”

 

     “Yeah.. yeah. Sorry. I’m just nervous.. for some reason.”

 

     “Freaking out about doing something wrong?

 

     “Yeah.. pretty much.”

 

     “So far you’re doing good.”

 

Was that a compliment?

 

     “I guess.”

 

Wait what?

 

     “What?”

 

     “I said I guess.”

 

     “To what?”

 

     “Giving you a compliment.”

 

     “Oh.. well.. thanks. I didn’t know I said that out loud..”

 

     “Pull yourself together.”

 

     “I’m trying.”

 

     “Try harder.”

 

     “Are you actually okay?”

 

I guess he wasn’t expecting that question again, because he flinched a little. Ha. Twice in one day. But he’s pausing again..

 

     “I honestly want to know, Chuck. Are you okay? Have you been doing okay?”

 

     “I don’t think we are close enough yet, Humphrey, for me to divulge that information to you.”

 

     “Well.. you kind of already gave me an idea of how you are. That night. In jail.”

 

He sighed.

 

     “Fine. I haven’t been okay. Not for a long time. My mother died giving birth to me. My father barely speaks to me. I’m dealing with it. I’ve dealt with it for a long time.”

 

Crap. Why am I such a terrible person?

 

     “Well.. I'm here. You don’t have to be alone for this, you know. I'm sure you probably still hate me.. but- here I am.”

 

He looked up at me again.. but these eyes are the same from that night. Not red from tears, not really anything. But the pain is still there, and.. that something else. God dammit, what is that?

 

     “Noted.”

 

Just then, the limo bounced on a pothole.. I looked around, and immediately noticed where we were.

 

     “Why are we outside my loft?”

 

     “I said we would drive around New York, and we did. Now go home Humphrey.”

 

Just then he reached over and opened the door.. I sat there for a few moments just looking at him.. but a slight nod of his head told me I should really get out. As I was stepping onto the curb, Chuck took hold of my arm again. I turned and looked down at his hand, then up to his face.

 

His face. All sharp features.. yet soft. He was looking up at me and had his mouth open like he was going to say something.. but he never did. I thought I felt his thumb rub across the sleeve of my jacket again.. but he let go and the door shut.. and then he was gone.

 

============

 

**_D - So.. guess who I ran into tonight._ **

**_S - Who?_ **

**_D - Chuck._**

**_S - Chuck? What? How?_ **

**_D - I was walking around the Upper East Side.. and he pulled up next to me. Told me to get in._ **

**_S - Okay, first of all, why were you walking around up here when you live in Brooklyn?_ **

**_D - I can walk around where ever I want Serena.. and I just happened to want to walk around where you all.. live._ **

**_S - Were you trying to find him?_ **

**_D - No!_ **

**_S - Well, how did it go?_ **

**_D - It was fine, but just when I thought it was going to start heading somewhere.. we were at the loft and he.. told me to go home._ **

**_S - So.. you didn’t accomplish anything?_ **

**_D - I don’t.. I'm not sure._**

 

I honestly didn’t think I did. When Chuck had said what he did, before he practically kicked me out of the limo, I’m not gonna lie.. I got a little excited. I was thinking.. okay. This is it. This is where we can start sharing with each other and hopefully Chuck can be who he really is when he’s around me.. but.. no. It’s like he gave me a tiny piece and then immediately snatched it away. 

Maybe this is just his way of slowly working up to it? I doubt he's ready to just jump back into it but.. still. I want to see who Chuck really is. 

Unless this is a game. 

Is it a game? Normally I wouldn’t put it past Chuck to play a game just for his own amusement.. but what does he get out of this? What is he winning by playing this? Is he actually interested in my apologies, or does.. he just want the smug enjoyment of seeing me apologize. 

Oh my god. Why did I just now think of that possibility?

But, then again.. his body language didn't really fit that perspective.

Plus he keeps touching me. Not like that, obviously. He’s just touching my arm.. but it keeps feeling like he’s trying for it to mean something, but can’t bring himself to say it. 

Oh well.

 

**_S - Want to come over tomorrow?_ **

**_D - Uh, yeah sure. What time?_ **

**_S - Anytime, I don’t really have anything planned at all for the next few days._ **

 

Cool.. guess I’m seeing Serena tomorrow. I'll have to try and remember to ask her if she's noticed anything different with Chuck.. 

 

Just then, my Gossip Girl tip email just pinged.. with a picture of me getting out of Chucks limo. Oh no. No. Why is this happening? Who the hell was even there? I don’t remember seeing anyone else on the sidewalk!

Fuck. Well. I can’t just.. not send out a blast. Whoever sent it in might read into why Gossip Girl didn’t put out a blast on “Lonely Boy” and Chuck Bass. In a limo. Together. More importantly, why was Chuck holding onto my arm. 

That last part, I actually do want to know. But I won’t find out anytime soon. Okay.. so. Here it goes.

 

“ _Spotted: dear old Lonely Boy stepping out of a rather prestigious limo. Owner? Chuck. Bass. And, what’s that? Chuck holding onto Lonely Boy’s arm? My my, now that is strange.”_


	2. Something Waldorf this way comes..

     “Dan… Dan… Dan! Wake up!”

 

     “Wh-what?”

 

     “Son.. it’s 1pm. You should probably wake up already.”

 

What? 1pm? I slept in that late? Where is my phone.. oh. It actually is 1pm, and not some joke my dad is trying to play.

 

     “Oh.. sorry dad. I had an alarm set.. but I guess I slept through it.”

 

     “Yeah, I can imagine. Since you came home late.”

 

A pleased father, Rufus was not. I’ve come home late many times.. why is now that much of an issue?

 

     “I’ve done that before though.. but I didn’t mean to sleep in this late. Fine, I’ll get up. I have to go see Serena sometime today actually.”

 

     “Now hold on, don’t bolt on me yet. What were you doing with Chuck Bass last night?”

 

How in the HELL did he know?

 

     “I.. I got a ride back home from him. I was out walking around and he stopped, and gave me a ride home. Yeah.”

 

     “Uh-huh. Where were you walking around at?”

 

     “The Upper East Side..”

 

     “Dan, we live in Brooklyn. Why were you up there?”

 

     “I don’t know, I wanted to walk around. But I didn’t want to walk around Brooklyn so I went to the Upper East Side.”

 

The look he is giving me tells me he doesn’t believe me.. but I honestly did just want to walk around. 

 

     “Okay, son. Just.. text me next time. Or something.”

 

     “Sure thing, dad.”

 

     “But why did Chuck Bass of all people give you a ride?”

 

     “I’m not sure. I was just walking, he pulled up, told me to get in.”

 

     “Odd. Oh well, have fun at Serena’s. Say hi to Lily for me.”

 

And with that, he turned around and walked out. 

I should probably get in the shower now. Don’t want to keep Serena waiting!

 

**_D - Hey, I’m getting in the shower now, and then I’ll head on over!_ **

**_S - Okay! And hey, Blair might be stopping by, just fyi._ **

 

Oh.. how lovely. Blair Waldorf is making an appearance. 

 

————

 

With the potentially awkward and still pending appearance of Blair looming over me, the trip to Serena’s felt like forever. I can only guess why she’s coming over. Was she already coming over? Did Serena tell her?

 

     “Hey, you didn’t happen to tell Blair that I was coming over did you?”

 

     “Well.. she texted me this morning asking me if I had seen you lately, and I told her that I did.. that you apologized to me.. and that you’re coming over today.”

 

Crap. I wonder if Blair looking for me has anything to do with the..

 

     “Did she mention anything about the Gossip Girl blast? Someone saw Chuck and I together last night and sent it to her..”

 

     “Oh.. no. She didn’t.. and I didn’t see the blast either. Are you okay?”

 

     “I’m fine. Just only slightly panicking on the inside over what she could possibly want to talk to me about.”

 

     “Dan, I doubt it has anything to do with the blast. She’s probably mad you didn’t apologize to her, but apologized to me, and just wants you to humor her.”

 

     “Yeah.. maybe.”

 

————

 

I didn’t have much time to worry about it though, because after only a few minutes Blair arrived. 

 

     “Oh hi Serena! Dan.”

 

Just as warm as always.

 

     “Hey Serena, could you give Dan and I a few minutes, I want to talk to him about something.”

 

     “I’ll just be upstairs..”

 

     “Call the cops if she tries to kill me!”

 

     “Oh shut up Humphrey. I just want to know why you felt the need to not only apologize to Serena, but to also apologize to Chuck, but not me. You’re not friends with Chuck. I understand apologizing to Serena, but not to Chuck. I’m not your friend either, but now I definitely expect an apology.”

 

Jesus girl, breath a little. 

 

     “Oh- uh. Okay. Blair, I’m sorry for writing what I did.”

 

     “.. That’s it?”

 

     “Uh.. yeah. Pretty much? I apologized the same way to Serena-“

 

Just then, Serena yelled from upstairs-

 

     “It’s true! Same apology! I forgave him, you should too!”

 

Blair rolled her eyes at that, but shifted on her feet. 

 

     “Fine. You’re forgiven.”

 

     “Okay.. cool. So, was that all or-“

 

     “Why were you with Chuck last night?”

 

Oh, so she did see that.

 

     “He just gave me a ride.”

 

     “Why?”

 

     “I don't know.. I was walking around.. up here. Just having a walk. I wanted to go for a walk.”

 

     “Humphrey you live in Brooklyn.”

 

Oh my god, is this really what everyone is going to say to me about this?!

 

     “Blair, that may be true, but I can walk around wherever I want. I don’t need a reason.”

 

     “That may be true, Humphrey, but this is the Upper East Side. I’m not buying that you just wanted to walk around up here for no reason at all.”

 

     “Well.. I don’t have a reason.. so. I honestly just wanted to walk around. I LIKE walking around.”

 

     “Whatever, Humphrey. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go see my mother.”

 

One short second later, she’s turning around, in the elevator, and gone. Why is everyone so god damn dramatic around here.. Even Serena coming down the stairs manages to look dramatic.

 

     “Huh.. I thought she’d stay longer than that.”

 

     “Why?”

 

     “Because she told me she had nothing else to do today and wanted to hangout..”

 

     “Did you not hear what she said? She was going to go see her mom.”

 

     "Dan, her mom is in Paris."

 

     "Well.. maybe she changed her mind? Wanted to go to Paris.. for.. no reason? She's probably scheming. I feel like she's scheming."

 

     “Oh come on Dan, what is there to scheme about. She doesn’t know you like Chuck, and all she knows is that he gave you a ride home and that someone on Gossip Girl caught him dropping you off. It doesn’t mean anything if you have an outsider point of view.”

 

     “Unless she talked to Chuck..”

 

     “I doubt it. They aren’t seeing each other right now. I don’t know if Blair has even tried to talk to him in the last few months.”

 

Huh.

 

     “I didn’t know Blair and Chuck were having issues..”

 

     “It’s nothing out of the ordinary of what they usually go through. Except this is taking longer than it ever has.”

 

Really..

 

============

 

Eventually, we got to the subject of last night. Serena wanted the full run down of everything that happened.. so I told her. But her response wasn’t what I was looking for.

 

     “That actually sounds normal.”

 

     “Excuse me, what?”

 

     “Everything that happened. Chuck hasn’t ever been the most open person, but anytime I’ve ever seen it happen in the past he immediately deflects off of it and changes the subject. Except in this case, he just kicked you to the curb.”

 

She giggled at that.. and I may have too.

 

     “Okay, that was only slightly funny.. “

 

     “Shut up, you know it was.”

 

     “Whatever Serena.. But yeah. That’s pretty much what happened. It was back and forth banter.. then a small moment where I thought he was going to start sharing something with me.. and then I was booted out.”

 

     “Like I said, that sounds normal for Chuck.”

 

     “I just want to know why he keeps grabbing my arm..”

 

     “Now, that’s the only part that doesn’t sound normal, and unfortunately I don’t have an answer for you. He might be trying to tell you something.. but can’t put it into words.. so he just grabs your arm and expects you to know.”

 

     “That’s what I thought!”

 

     “I was kidding Dan. None of it sounds normal. Chuck would normally just tell you, or anyone, what he thought.”

 

     “Oh… well then forget I said that.”

 

     “No no, you already said it. Please, go on Dan!”

 

     “Ugh.. I don’t know. He’s done it twice. Each time he had this look on his face like he wanted to say something- but couldn’t. Both times I thought I felt his thumb rubbing against my bicep. I don’t really know how I'm supposed to take it.”

 

     “Hmm. Well. I can kind of see why you think there’s something else implied with that. For someone who supposedly hates you I don’t really know why he would act like this.”

 

     “You’re telling me..”

 

     “I’m sorry Dan.. I’m sure this is all really confusing for you-”

 

     “It’s fine.. I’ll eventually figure it all out. Hopefully.”

 

===========

 

My main concern right now is just how long this is going to take. 

But why am I trying to rush this? I don’t feel like I’m rushing anything.. I’m just.. nervous. That’s all. I haven’t been able to get Chuck out of my head. 

 

Oh my god. Am I pining? 

 

I’m fucking pining. How did I get to this point. Why am I pining? There’s nothing to pine over. We shared a moment. That’s it. That’s all that happened. 

 

     “Get yourself together.”

 

     “Did you say something?”

 

Oh, right. I’m still at Serena’s place.. 

 

     “Nothing.. just thinking out loud.”

 

     “Dan.”

 

     “It’s nothing. Honestly.. Stop- giving me that look.”

 

     “Dan, I think I know you enough to be able to see when you’re in your head. You’ve been sitting there staring at the Prada Marfa saying nothing for the past 5 minutes.”

 

Was I really?

 

     “I’m sorry.. I just- I can’t get it out of my head.”

 

     “Okay, how about this: tell me what you like about him.”

 

     “What?”

 

     “What do you like about him?”

 

     “I.. well. I don't know. He’s snarky. Witty. At first, I always thought he was being rude. He may have actually been trying to be rude, but I was also being rude back. But now, after looking back at everything, I’m kind of seeing how we both could just go at it with each other and we’d match each other. Objectively.. none of it had any real venom behind it. Neither one of us came out on top.. Oh shut up that wasn’t a joke.”

 

     “I- I- *laughing* I’m so- sorry! You walked into that one!”

 

     “Oh please stop.. Okay. Good. Don’t interrupt.. Objectively Chuck is one of the most attractive guys we know.. Stop gagging! He is! I think he looks better than Nate. Yeah, you deserve that one.. *laughs* But uh, I think he’s cute. I think his demeanor is cute too.. obviously I think it’s a front.. but it’s.. kind of endearing? The bad boy persona. And the glimpse of him that I saw.. I don’t know why but I’m attracted to it all of a sudden. Which doesn’t make sense at the same time because Chuck is straight-“

 

     “Actually-”

 

     “What? He is isn’t he? I’ve only ever known him to be with Blair?”

Okay Humphrey, don't sound desperate.

 

     “Well, the thing is, Chuck dabbles with both sides. He’s been seen with guys and girls. It just never ended up on Gossip Girl for some reason, which would explain why you didn't know. So I guess you could say he’s bisexual.”

 

Huh. He _hasn’t_ been on Gossip Girl with another guy.. until recently with me. But he wasn’t _with_ me.. I was just getting out of his limo..

 

     “Dan.. come back to me. I’m over here.. not in the Prada Marfa.”

 

     “Shit, sorry. I just.. didn’t know any of that.”

 

     “Well, you’re not the only one. It’s not like it’s a secret, but no one really talks about it. Since it's not a big deal.”

 

And if it somehow is a secret.. it’s one that Gossip Girl hasn’t came across yet.. I guess some people can elude me after all. 

 

     “You know.. I’m not really sure what to do with this information.”

 

     “Well it’s not like I would advise you to confront him about it.”

 

Of course you wouldn’t, Serena..

 

     "Oh, by the way, my dad wanted me to tell your mom hi."

 

============

 

After an hour or two filled with casual conversation that _wasn’t_ about Chuck, I decided I wanted to go home. 

 

Walk home, actually. I wanted time to think. About why I feel the way I do. I understand logically that I have no real genuine reason to feel like this, but.. I can’t help it. Once again, I can’t help it, and I’m a little angry at myself. 

 

I made my way down the street… and definitely wasn’t avoiding a path that would take me past the Empire. It was still early enough in the day (it was around 4) that Chuck might be there.. and I didn’t exactly want to see him. 

 

Okay, that’s a lie. I did want to see him. I wanted to ask him if he’s talked to Blair, and if he was okay after last night, and why is he bisexual, and why haven’t I heard about it before, and why- STOP Humphrey. Calm down. You’re still not on a high enough level to be.. asking those kinds of questions.. or am I just telling myself that?

 

Chuck did follow me last night.

 

He did stop and ask me to get in. 

 

We did actually have a conversation last night. 

 

He did compliment me.

 

And he did touch me.. again. 

 

And we ended up on Gossip Girl, except I’m the one that put the blast out. 

 

Funny.. I’m the only guy Chuck has been on Gossip Girl with. 

 

Wait. I’m literally the only guy Chuck has been on Gossip Girl with.. I’ve never seen Chuck with any of his guy friends before on a tip.. ever. Not even some random (probably an escort) guy on the hotline.. I’m the only one. 

 

If he was deliberately making sure he was never seen on Gossip Girl with a guy before.. how did he mess up this time? How did this one chance get captured? It couldn’t have been on accident.. there would have been accidents in the past that I would have seen. 

 

He couldn’t have planned that.. could he? I mean.. I wouldn’t put it past Chuck to mess up on purpose.. but then he wouldn’t have messed up. He would have done it on purpose. 

 

But why would Chuck Bass purposely get himself on Gossip Girl.. with me?

 

Only one way to find out.

 

Confront him. Or.. maybe not. Just try to see him again.. and see if it comes up.

 

**_D - Hey, Serena, can you give me his number?_ **

 

**_S - Wait, he still hasn’t texted you?_ **

 

**_D - Nope. That’s why I’m asking for it.._ **

 

**_S - Oh- okay._ **

 

===========

 

So.. I got his number. Now what. I know what I want to do with it.. I just need to text him. 

But how does one just text Chuck Bass?

 

**_D - Hey._ **

 

Gold. Star. Open. 

 

**_C - How did you get my number? I haven’t texted you yet._ **

 

I know. That’s why I got it from Serena.

 

**_D - I know.. Serena gave it to me._ **

**_C - Ah, well. Sorry for not texting you already. I’ve been preoccupied._ **

 

Did Chuck Bass just say sorry-

 

**_C - Come over tonight._ **

 

Excuse me?

 

**_D - What? To the Empire?_ **

**_C - Yes.. where else Daniel?_ **

**_D - Oh. I dont know.. I can come over. Yeah._ **

**_C - The front desk will show you up._ **

 

And that was it. An invitation and an implied dismissal at the same time. Is this how Chuck always talks to people?

He didn’t give me a time.. so I’m just gonna assume sometime _later_ tonight.

I have nothing else to do.. I guess I’ll work on putting out blasts.. I've been ignoring the hotline. 

You know, some day’s I just don’t want to deal with Gossip Girl. 

But I can’t stop now.

 

“ _Hey there Upper East Siders….”_

 


	3. Let's be clear on something..

_I am outside Chuck’s door. At this very moment._

I suddenly don’t feel comfortable being here. I’m about to visit his.. home? If this is a home. It’s really just a very large hotel room. Either way, I’m here, I’m panicking, I want to back out but I-

 

The door just opened. Chuck’s standing right there. Holding the door open.. motioning for me to come in. 

Once my legs decided to respond I awkwardly.. stumbled in. Not really stumbled, but it wasn’t exactly graceful. I accidentally brushed into him. He didn’t move though.. 

 

I walked into what I assumed could only be the living room.. 3 couches arranged around a low table, in front of a fireplace and a tv. Behind it was open space.. the kitchen. Well, what passed for a kitchen in a very large hotel room. 

 

He brushed past me then, towards a stand against the wall.. with a champagne bottle on it?

 

Champagne? Why champagne? Why not something else? Why cham- oh. There’s another bottle beside it. I’m apparently blind now, or just looking for things to be confused about. 

 

He chose that bottle, the one that is _not_ the champagne, and poured us both a glass. I took it from him when he handed it to me. 

 

     “So..”

 

     “Must you be so awkward Humphrey?”

 

     “I’m trying not to be, trust me..”

 

     “I told you, you better be able to keep up. I’m not even doing anything, and you can barely handle that.”

 

     “I’m- I’m sorry. I know I keep saying that. This is just really new to me. I don’t think I could have ever prepared myself for being openly invited to your room to hangout-“

 

     “Don’t read into it, Daniel.”

 

Why does he keep switching my names?

 

     “Okay- I’ll try not to. It’s a little difficult, _Charles_.”

 

I’ll throw one in there just for good measure. It did something, cause he looked down at his shoes.. and did he smile? 

 

     “Oh, so now it’s your turn to be awkward?”

 

He smiled.

 

     “I’m not awkward.”

 

     “Oh, well of course not Chuck. You could never be awkward.”

 

     “I just-“

 

     “Didn’t know how to react to me being upfront.. didn’t have time to prepare for it?”

 

He smiled.. again. What’s going on? I should probably sit down before my legs go out..

 

     “Don’t get snarky.”

 

     “Wouldn’t be any different than how we’ve always acted towards each other.. but.. this time I don’t mean anything by it. Just poking fun.”

 

Okay see, this is what I meant earlier when I told Serena that we could just go back and forth.. 

 

     “Okay, fine. You got me, again, Humphrey.”

 

He’s still smiling.. but then there was a knock on the door. He went over and opened the door, on the other side was a cart with two food trays on it. Did he order room service.. for us? What?

 

     “I.. didn’t expect this to be a date Charles. Really, I’m flattered.”

 

     “Be quiet, _Daniel,_ I didn’t say I was going to take you out tonight. I figured we could talk some more and eat.”

 

My eyes went straight to the champagne bottle. Fuck. That was involuntary.. but he had turned around just then and didn’t see it.. hopefully. 

But.. is there a reason why he keeps specifically pointing out that he is not taking me out?

 

     “Oh, Charles, are you ashamed to be seen with me?”

 

He froze. 

 

     “No.”

 

     “So.. is there a reason why we haven’t.. been in public yet.. to just hangout?”

 

He turned around, with a smirk on his face. 

 

     “Just sit down Humphrey, and let me feed you.”

 

Dear God in heaven. I’m sure it looked like I sat down, but my legs actually gave out. Smooth. Bonus points for not hitting the table. Wait, why do I care about being smooth right now?

 

     “You might like this. As someone who hasn’t.. had the luxury of eating fine dining most of his life, I figured I could order something simple for you.”

 

He took the cover off.. and there was a steak. Seriously? We’ve all eaten steak before, and I don’t know what he thinks I’m missing out on but-

 

     “Really, Chuck? Way to insult me without actually trying to..”

 

     “I- It wasn’t meant to be an insult. I was just thinking that-“

 

     “You didn’t want to overload me with overly expensive food and watch me squirm as I ate something I probably didn’t like, but was worth enough money to pay for an entire months worth of rent?”

 

He opened his mouth then.. but closed it. Opened it again.. and nothing. Holy- Did I just stun Chuck Bass? Go me. Hell yeah. 

He eventually recovered without saying anything, instead he picked up the two plates, and sat them down on the table between the two couches across from each other. Him on one side, me on the other. A bit of an awkward distance.. but this _isn’t a date after all_ I try to remind myself.

There’s no reason for me to think it is, but I can’t help it. It kind of.. honestly feels like one. But why?

Instead of talking, he just went right into eating.. okay then. I can do that too. 

 

————

 

Eventually, the Bass spoke. 

 

     “I’m sorry for the Gossip Girl blast. I’m usually very good about making sure I don’t end up on that ridiculous site with other-“

 

And then he stopped. 

 

     “With other what?”

 

     “Guys.”

 

     “Why would that be an issue for you?”

 

     “Well, I don’t exactly want to send the wrong message.”

 

     “What? That you like guys?”

 

     “Well.. not that message.”

 

Ah, so he is bisexual.. or potentially bisexual.

 

     “Then what was it?”

 

     “I just don’t- there are certain people that I don’t want to give the wrong impression about me. About the kind of guys that I like, or, about the specific type I like.”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little.. and then I regretted it. Chucks face fell just a little bit.

 

     “Well, Chuck, it’s not like you have a.. good boy reputation to uphold.”

 

     “I’m trying to fix it.”

 

Wow. Really? How is he doing.. wait. He hasn’t been on Gossip Girl in a while.. since before the other night. Is he actually telling the truth?

 

     “Oh.. Well- uh. Good luck? I guess? With the.. self-inflicted redemption arc story..”

 

     “Thank you, Daniel.”

 

At that point.. I didn’t really know what else to say. Well except for-

 

     “I’m not mad that we ended up on Gossip Girl. We weren’t.. doing anything. I was just getting out of the limo and-“

 

     “And someone still took a photo, and sent it in.”

 

I really wish I could take it down though, it seems to be.. an inconvenience for him? He doesn’t look hurt.. but his voice sounded put out though. I guess I’m getting to see several different versions of Chuck lately.. 

 

     “Like I said, I’m not mad. It’s fine with me. It doesn’t bother me if people think it’s weird that we were together.”

 

Just then, his face completely changed. It.. glowed? There’s a soft smile.. and his eyes are lit up ever so slightly.. Wow. He really is gorgeous. How did I go all that time with out realizing-

 

     “I’m happy to hear you say that, Daniel.”

 

Okay, this is turning into way too many curveballs.. except right now it kind of feels like dodgeball. 

 

     “You know.. not to question your happiness or anything.. but why would that make you happy?”

 

     “Well, I- I’m not entirely sure I know why. It just.. did.”

 

Did I seriously make Chuck Bass at a loss for words, again? Jesus, I’m on a roll. I wonder if he feels like this is dodgeball too.. 

 

     “Not to ruin your mood or anything.. but this feels.. so weird. But not in a bad way!”

 

I added that last part on because his eyes widened just a little bit.. like he hadn’t been expecting me to say that. Fuck, did I just screw up?

 

     “I’m sorry Chuck.. I didn’t mean it like that.. I promise.”

But I feel that I already dealt some more damage.. on top of what I already have and I can’t-

 

     “No, I know how you feel. It is weird. Just a little bit.”

 

     “So, I’m not alone in this?”

 

He chuckled a little bit.. Ha. Chuck chuckled. 

Wow Humphrey. 

 

     “No. You’re not alone.”

 

     “Oh. Okay, well.. How did your day go-“

 

     “Can I tell you something?”

 

     “Uh- yeah. Yeah, go ahead. Tell me anything you want.”

 

He shifted on his couch a little bit.. like he was uncomfortable. Oh no.

 

     “I.. Don’t really know how to approach this. But.. that night. In the cell. When I was telling you about my mother and I was..”

 

And here comes back all of those emotions, rushing into me.

 

     “You don’t have to talk about it Chuck..”

 

     “No, I want to. Because I need to get this off my chest.”

 

     “Okay..”

 

     “That night.. when I was telling you about all of that.. your face did something.”

 

MY face? What about his?

 

     “I had just finished my sentence.. and your body language.. looked like it did a complete 180. Like you had changed your mind about something. And.. I want to know.. what that was.”

 

Oh my god. There’s no way. Did we both have the same experience? 

 

     “I- I- changed my mind.. about-“

 

He huffed a little bit.

 

     “Use your words, Humphrey.”

 

     “I changed my mind about you.”

 

God. If you’re there. Help me get through these last few minutes, before I decide to die and ascend into the heavens because I can’t handle this. 

 

     “Really.”

 

     “Yes, Chuck.”

 

     “So did I.”

 

What.

No really. What?

 

     “You.. changed.. your mind.. about me? What did you even think of me to begin with..?”

 

     “I thought you were an egotistical ass that thought he was above everyone else, and was willing to ruin friendships for your own better gain.”

 

Okay.. well. I deserve that.

 

     “You know.. I actually thought the same way about you.”

 

     “And now?”

 

You’re cute, precious, I want to be your- friend… I want to be there for you. I kind of want to be with-

 

     “That you’re misunderstood. That I misunderstood you. The Chuck that I saw last night.. wasn’t the Chuck I knew. I figured the Chuck I saw was the real Chuck. Full of hurt, pain, angst, a young boy just screaming for someone to notice.”

 

Okay, that was a maybe a little too deep.. but I liked the drama of it.

Oh god.. the drama. Why.

Chucks face.. was almost unreadable. He wasn’t quite smiling.. his eyes weren’t really glowing.. he looks.. shocked?

 

     “Hey… Chuck.. you okay?”

 

He shook his head, like he was in a daze and just now came back to Earth..

 

     “Yeah- yeah. I’m fine. I’m fine, Daniel.”

 

     “Are you sure? You look like you kind of left the room for a second..”

 

     “It felt like I did.”

 

     “What?”

 

     “Oh, nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

 

     “Okay.. So, if I can ask-“

 

     “You can ask me anything.”

 

     “-What did you change your mind about? About me I mean?”

 

At that, he took a rather long sip from his drink.. like he was preparing to talk about something he didn’t really want to talk about.

And now I’m nervous again.

 

     “I didn’t think you were an ass anymore. I kind of realized I had misunderstood you too. You aren’t like us. You don’t just blast people on Gossip Girl to get back at them when you feel they wronged you, you took a different route, and wrote what you did. I realized then that what you did was not really any different from what the rest of us would do to each other.”

 

And there comes that guilt again.. guilt over the fact that I actually _am_ Gossip Girl. 

 

     “Oh.. well. Thank you? So.. I take it you don’t hate me.. anymore? Because I don’t. Anymore.”

 

His head shifted a little bit at that.. and his eyes squinted. He looks puzzled again.. Did he catch the other meaning that I had with that? I thought I hadn’t given that away at all ever during our few interactions.

 

     “No.. I guess I don’t. You’re pretty fine. Okay. I mean-“

 

     “Use your words, Charles.”

 

     “Very funny, _Daniel-“_

 

_Please_ stop actually saying my name-

 

     “You caught me off guard.”

 

     “I did?”

 

     “More or less.”

 

That seems to be the key phrase with the two of us.

 

     “So.. is everything okay? Are you okay?”

 

     “Yeah.. I guess it is. I am. Thank you for asking.”

 

     “Of course Chuck..”

 

I wanted to add onto that.. something about how we are friends.. but I still wasn’t really sure. All we did was confess how we thought differently of each other. Nothing more than that. 

 

_————_

 

I stayed a little bit longer after that. I had already finished my food, and we had both been steadily working through the bottle of.. whatever it was that he was pouring out. 

It was nice. It was like we actually were friends.. but.. I don’t know. I want to ask.. but that would be childish wouldn’t it? Plus I’m several drinks in already and-

 

     “Daniel. I’m over here. Not in the curtains.”

 

Why do I keep spacing out today.. well this might actually have something to do with the fact I’m drinking. But, oh well.. Ha.

 

     “Oh.. Hey- Sorry man. I don’t know what came over me..”

 

     “Well, it might be that liquor that you’re pretending to handle.”

 

     “Oh.. well.. you might be right about that..”

 

And why oh WHY does my body decide this is the perfect time for a laughing fit.. Why. At least he isn’t kick me out yet..

 

     “Do you want to go home now?”

 

     “I mean.. not really.. I am having fun..”

 

     “Well, Daniel, it is almost midnight.”

 

Fuck. My dad.

 

     “Oh no.. hey where is my.. oh, thank you.”

 

He had immediately handed me my phone.. why did he have my phone? Oh well, not important, I need to text my dad..

 

**_D - hey dad, sorry I'm out late again. I'm having drinks at serena’s_ **

**_R - Hey, thanks for actually listening to me this time. Have fun, don't get too crazy._ **

 

Huh. That was easy.. But speaking of Serena..

 

     “Hey.. I actually do think I want to head out. Unless you want me to stay a little longer?”

 

     “And run the risk of you throwing up on my couches because you drank too much? Not a chance.”

 

There was no heat in the jab, he was smiling actually. Like a full on smile. Eyes and everything.

 

     “Come on, I’ll put you in a cab.”

 

————

 

I’d like to say that my journey down to the front of the Empire was a graceful one.. but it wasn’t. I was just tipsy enough that I stumbled a little bit, but.. luckily Chuck didn’t seem to mind helping me keep upright. 

He waked me up to.. not a cab. A Bass Industries Lincoln. He opened the door, and I not-so-gracefully got in, and when he shut the door behind me I rolled the window down to say something but he was leaning into the front passenger window telling the driver where to take me.

When he leaned out, I called over-

 

     “Hey.. Chuck. Thanks for tonight man.. I had fun.. and thank you for the ride home..”

 

He smiled at me. I was starting to really like those..

 

     “It’s nothing, Daniel. But you’re welcome.. and thank _you_ for coming over and.. talking.”

 

And at that.. the car was off. 

We made it down a little further than I wanted to go before I realized I wanted to go somewhere else instead..

 

     “Hey.. dude. Can you actually drop me off at the VanDerWoodsen place?”

 

The look the guy gave me said the answer was a no, but yet his actions said different. Sure enough, we turned down another street.. and off to see Serena I went.


	4. The Senior Bass

     “Serena.. It was so nice. So, so nice. All we did was talk.. and eat.. and drink..”

 

     “Drink? Really?I would never have guessed.. the way you stumbled out of the elevator door yelling, ‘Serena! Serena where are you!’ .. I had no idea Dan!”

 

She was laughing really hard at that.. I did kind of arrive rather loudly.. Ha. Couldn’t help it. 

 

     “I know.. I know.. I’m sorry.. But I just wanted to come over as soon as possible so I can tell you everything!”

 

She’s laughing again at that..

 

     “I get it, I really do.. I do the same thing to Blair every time something awesome happens with me.. except I don’t come in tipsy!”

 

     “Oh whatever, you so would if you were!”

 

     “Okay fine, I may have done it once or twice. But! This is the first time you’ve done it for me! I’m so flattered! Coming over here after a _date_ with the one and only, Chuck Bass!”

 

     “You had a _what,_ with _who_?”

 

Just then, Lily had came out of the elevator… with Bart in tow. They were both now just standing there in the foyer.. staring at us sprawled on the couch. 

God dammit. 

 

     “Uh.. Mrs. VanDerWoodsen.. Mr. Bass.. uh.. nothing. I didn’t.. have a date. With Chuck. I- Just had dinner with him. That’s all.”

 

The pair of them looked beyond confused, but Bart also looked a little angry on top of it.

 

     “Why are you having dinner with my son.”

 

     “Well- we are… friends?”

 

     “Really. After you wrote what you did, and then got my son in jail with you over a fight?”

 

Shit. I never realized that I would have to explain myself to Bart.. the father of Chuck.. Why did this night have to go to crap so quickly?

Lily made a motion to Serena.. and then the both of them went up the stairs.. leaving Bart and I in the living room. Alone. 

Alone with a slightly red-faced Bart Bass. Who did not look happy at all. 

I really hate my life sometimes. 

 

     “Sir.. I’m.. sorry. It was all a misunderstanding.. on both of our parts-“

 

     “How exactly is writing what you did a ‘misunderstanding’?”

 

     “No, no.. Well actually yes.. I just.. Look. I shouldn’t have done it, okay? I regret it. I shouldn’t have said what I said. I didn’t know anything about Chuck, and I didn’t have the right. But.. something happened that night. We both saw each other differently after it happened. That is actually what we talked about tonight over.. dinner.”

 

     “So, my son just casually asked you over for dinner to talk about your feelings.”

 

     “I mean.. pretty much.. We’ve talked before tonight though already, tonight was just supposed to be us hanging out.. which turned into dinner at the Empire and talking some more.”

 

Well. It was the truth after all, but Bart doesn’t look convinced.. 

 

     “Bart.. he’s not lying.”

 

Seriously, God BLESS Serena for appearing just now.

 

     “They have already talked before.. and Dan did apologize to Chuck.. and Chuck has forgiven him. And I have too. So has Blair.”

 

Bart was looking up at Serena at the top of the stairs, but then looked down at me. 

With a blank face. The Bass _Signature_ Look apparently.

 

     “Well then. If that’s all that happened-“

 

     “Dad? Dan? Dan, why are you here? You’re supposed to be on your way home.”

 

I’m done. I’m so done.

I turned around.. and sure enough.. Chuck is walking towards us.

 

     “Hey.. Chuck. Yeah I uh- decided to come to Serena’s.. to talk.. to her-“

 

     “Apparently about the night the two of you had together, _son_.”

 

Seriously, Bart? Way to be petty.

 

     “Why did you want to talk to Serena about what we did?”

 

     “She’s my friend Chuck.. I can talk to her about stuff..”

 

     “But why specifically what we did?”

 

     “I’ve.. kind of been talking to her about.. everything.. and she’s been helping me..?”

 

     “She’s been helping you, has she?”

 

Chuck shot a somewhat irritated look up at Serena.. That was a little uncalled for.

 

     “Hey now, no. She didn’t do anything, this was all on me Chuck I’m-“

 

     “What did she tell you?”

 

     “Wh-what?”

 

     “What did she tell you?”

 

     “I didn’t tell him anything Chuck.. There’s nothing for me to tell him.”

 

Now the two of them were having some kind of telepathic show down.. one that I was not included in on.

 

     “Guys.. what’s going on?”

 

They both looked at me, and then back at each other.

 

     “Dan-“; ”Daniel-” 

 

They both spoke at the same time.. then paused. Chuck spoke instead.

 

     “Daniel, there's nothing going on. I promise. I just wasn’t expecting you to be here when I came in.. talking with my dad.”

 

Bart was staring daggers at Chuck, and I wanted nothing more than to lay him out for that.

 

     “Dad, really. Nothing is going on. Dan and I are fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”

 

That last part was directed at me. 

 

     “Okay.. well.. if that’s all that’s going on: nothing.. Then- I'm just gonna go.”

 

     “No wait, wait, Dan!”

 

Both Serena and Chuck had moved on me at the same time, but I was at least sobering up quickly enough to slip past Chucks hands and into the elevator.. smashing on the buttons until the door shut and it started down.

 

Okay, ow, that kind of hurt. 

I could hear them yelling through the door.. but I was already on my way down. I just wanted to go home at this point. 

Go home, get in my bed, and sleep. 

 

============

 

I’m never drinking again. 

I mean it, never again. This headache isn’t worth it.. whatever Chuck was giving me to drink last night, while easy enough to swallow, definitely wasn’t worth this. 

 

What even happened? I remember getting in a car but.. I don’t remember coming home? What?

Actually.. no. I vaguely remember seeing Serena.. but that’s about it. Did I go see Serena?

 

I rolled over, grabbed my phone, flipped it on.. 

 

and 4 missed calls from Chuck and Serena were waiting for me.

 

     “What?”

 

That’s weird.. why were they calling me…?

I dialed Serena first.

 

     “Hey! Are you okay?!”

 

     “Uh.. yeah.. why wouldn’t I be? I just woke up with a killer headache though..”

 

     “You.. you’re fine? Everything is fine?”

 

What is she going on about?

 

     “Yes, Serena.. everything is fine, what’s going on-“

 

I was interrupted by someone yelling in the background, and Serena taking herself off the phone.. There was a weird rustle and then suddenly-

 

     “Daniel, why didn’t you call us back?”

 

     “Oh, hey Chuck..”

 

And suddenly.. I didn’t care if I had a headache.

 

     “I didn’t know y’all called.. I just woke up. I’m at home. In bed.”

 

     “Are you alright?”

 

     “Yessss, I am, okay? Why do y’all keep asking me that?”

 

     “It’s nothing Daniel… just go back to sleep. You didn’t let me know when you got home, so I called Serena.. and we called you. We were just worried.”

 

     “You? Worried I didn’t make it home? Well that’s funny..”

 

I giggled. I would be lying if I said I didn’t like the attention.. but then it suddenly didn’t sit very well with me. Why was Chuck worried about me getting home? Has he ever worried like that about one of his friends before-

 

     “Oh, don’t read into it Daniel. Thank you for calling us back.. but really, go back to bed. I’ll talk to you later.”

 

And he hung up. I pulled the phone away from my face and just stared at it.. then decided to listen to Chuck.. and went back to sleep.

 

============

 

I woke up again, looked at the clock, saw it was a little bit past 1 in the afternoon.. and I groaned. I felt better at least. But I didn’t want to deal with the look I’m gonna get from dad about sleeping in so late again.. 

 

And turns out I didn’t have to. He wasn’t even here. Awesome. 

 

————

 

After a quick shower, changing, and eating something slightly healthy.. I called Serena again.

 

     “Hey Dan!”

 

     “So, do you mind telling me what that all was about this morning?”

 

     “Do you really not remember?”

 

     “No.. that’s why I’m asking. Though I do have a vague memory of seeing you last night.”

 

     “Nothing else?”

 

     “Not really, no.” 

 

     “Well, you did see me last night. You had came over to talk to me about your dinner with Chuck-“

 

Oh yeah, I did do that. 

 

     “-and in the middle of us talking about it mom and Bart walked in, and they heard me joking about you having a date with Chuck and-

 

     “And I can already assume what happened from there…”

 

     “It wasn’t.. bad.. You did tell Bart that it wasn’t a date, that the both of you just had dinner, and that you had apologized to Chuck and everything but then.. Chuck walked in.”

 

     “Oh..”

 

     “Yeah.. and he was just confused as to why you were there, and then I think you got upset about it and left? You actually broke the elevator button. We tried calling you, but you didn’t answer. I assumed you made it back home, but then again no one was answering the home phone either.”

 

     “You called the house, and no one answered?”

 

     “Yeah, but it was also 2am in the morning..”

 

Rufus suddenly walked into the loft, carrying bags of groceries. Oh good, so the panic over whether or not his dad had been home was went away.

 

     “Yeah, we would have all been asleep so no one would have answered anyways..”

 

     “Yeah.. I’m really sorry about last night. Even though you don’t really remember..”

 

     “Well, did anything bad happen at all?”

 

     “Well, Chuck and Bart got into it over why you both had dinner.”

 

     “And? Why was it a big deal?”

 

     “I don’t really know.. Bart seemed bothered by it. But this morning everyone seemed fine. It was like last night didn’t happen. Chuck had stayed in my room all night worrying about whether or not you were okay though.. it was really cute Dan.”

 

She started giggling on her end.. Oh yeah. I’m sure it was cute that you got to see that..

 

     “Well.. I’m fine now. Everything is fine. I don’t really understand what the issue is with Bart but.. I also just don’t understand Bart.”

 

     “Me neither, but hey, I gotta go, tell your dad I said hi if he’s there!”

 

And she hung up. I looked up to see my dad staring at me from across the loft, with his eyebrow cocked up. 

 

     “Something going on?”

 

     “Nope, everything’s good. Oh, and Serena says hi.”

 

     “Well, tell her I said hi back next time you see her. but hey, I gotta go to the gallery in a few minutes, so I’ll see you sometime soon my party boy?”

 

     “Dad.. It was one night.. Well actually no, two nights in a row that I stayed out late..”

 

     “Yeah, but you were drinking last night. Came home a little too smashed if you ask me..”

 

     “Sorry dad.”

 

     “It’s fine son, all I care about is that you make it home safely, but, I’ll see you later. Bye!”

 

Rufus turned around, opened the door, and left. 

 

     “Is it me.. or is everyone just leaving me abruptly.. It’s probably me.”

 

————

 

I didn’t have any plans today, so I just wasted away the rest of the afternoon playing Halo. I managed to get halfway through Halo 3 before I got a phone call-

It was Chuck.

 

     “Hey man.”

 

     “Do you feel any better?”

 

I couldn’t help but smile. Straight to the point.

 

     “Yeah, I feel a lot better actually. I called Serena this morning and she filled me in on what happened last night.”

 

A pause.

 

     “I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry if you felt you had to.. escape.”

 

     “No, no man you’re fine. I don’t even really remember what happened. Even she said she didn’t know why I left, I apparently broke the elevator down button on the inside.”

 

I laughed a little at that, but the silence on the other end made me stop. 

 

     “Chuck?”

 

     “I’m here.”

 

     “Okay I think it’s my turn, are _you_ okay?”

 

     “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just happy you’re okay.”

 

     “Okay.. well… everyone is okay so..”

 

     “Do you want to go out with me?”

 

What?

 

     “What?”

 

     “Tonight. Do you want to go out with me.. tonight?”

 

Oh.

 

     “Oh yeah, sure man. Where do you want to go? Bar? Club? How public do you want to be?”

 

I tried so hard to stop myself from giggling. Why did I just giggle?

 

     “Uh.. no bars. Or clubs. I guess I probably shouldn’t have said go out.. Do you want to come have dinner again with me, and then ride around Manhattan and.. talk again?”

 

That didn’t sound bad.. I didn’t exactly feel up to partying again..

 

     “Yeah.. yeah sure. Just.. no more alcohol.. I don’t know what you were force feeding me-“

 

     “I wasn’t force feeding you Humphrey, you just kept taking every glass I gave you.”

 

     “Well, Bass, my statement still stands. I still have a small headache..”

 

I was smiling. This was nice. It was just like a normal conversation.. that I probably wouldn’t normally be having if I was just friends with this guy..

 

     “Hey, actually, can I ask you something?”

 

     “Yes, Daniel, you can ask me anything.”

 

I could literally hear the eye roll through the phone. 

 

     “Are we friends?”

 

     “.. I would assume so, Humphrey. But not yet in the inner circle.”

 

I laughed a little too hard at that last statement.. 

 

     “Okay, yeah sure _Bass_. You say that now..”

 

     “Just come over again, tonight. Around 9. I’ll see you then.”

 

Click. Phone call done. I looked at the time, and I had roughly 3 hours to go. 

 

     “I guess I can get in a few more levels before I need to get ready..”

 

============

 

Turns out, by the time I needed to get ready I had actually managed to beat all the levels in Halo 3. 

I took another shower, brushed my teeth, changed clothes.. changed clothes again. Tried changing clothes again.. ended up with what I had on the first time.. Dark, almost black, jeans.. a solid gray v-neck shirt.. some lace up boots.. and a olive green military jacket. 

 

Dang Dan, why you getting all dressed up for?

Well, this isn’t technically dressing up.. I’m not even going out. I’m just going to go have dinner wtih.. Chuck Bass. 

 

The guy I’m currently friends with. 

That I have the hugest crush on. 

 

Probably not a good mix.

 

————

 

Surprisingly, I actually made it on time. Traffic was steady, but moved along well enough that I made it here with only 2 minutes to spare. Once I was out of the cab, I bolted up the steps of the Empire. Once I hit the lobby, I made sure to just walk quickly until I got to the elevator. 

After an excruciatingly long elevator ride, I ran down the hall.. narrowly missing a maid.

 

     “Sorry!”

 

The maid paid no attention to me..

But I eventually made it to the door.. only 1 minute late.

I knocked. 

 

I knocked again. 

 

A few more long seconds later, the door opens.. and I’m face to face with Blair Waldorf. 

Blair Waldorf.

Why is Blair here?

 

She locked eyes with me, and for a few moments I felt like she was going to do something. Instead, she turned around, glared at Chuck.. standing a few feet away.. turned back towards me-

 

     “Humphrey.”

 

-and stormed off.

 

I looked down the hallway at her.. confused as all hell. I blinked and turned my attention to Chuck.. Who looked pissed as hell. I walked in.

 

     “What was that?”

 

     “Nothing. She’s just being a bit.. She’s not happy with me. Apparently I’m late for crawling back to her..”

 

Oh. 

 

     “Well.. did you even want to this time?”

 

Chuck looked at me, and shook his head.

 

     “Not this time. She doesn’t have my interest anymore.

 

Oh.. well I’m definitely not going to be jealous of whoever it was that did have his interest.

 

     “Ah.. well.. lucky dude? Girl? Whoever.”

 

Chuck looked at me, puzzled. 

 

     “Yeah.. I guess you could say so.”

 

Whatever that meant.. Oh well. I’m hungry.

 

     “So, did you order in here? Or did you try to slum it down again just for me?”

 

I winked for good measure, just trying to crack a joke..

And the response I got was not expected.

Chuck _blushed._

 

     “Aww… what was that? Did you just blush? Oh god, did you actually slum it down again? I was just kidding.. making a joke!”

 

Again.. still blushing..

 

     “No, no.. I didn’t ‘slum it down.’ I just haven’t ordered yet. I figured you could fend for yourself this time, Humphrey.”

 

Ah.. there we go again with the name switching. 

 

     “Oh, well thank you so much for the vote of confidence Chuck.. I can definitely fend for myself!”

 

My phone vibrated in my pocket, so I pulled it out.. and it’s an email. A tip. To Gossip Girl. 

 

     “Hey uh, where is your bathroom?”

 

     “Down that way, through that room.”

 

     “Okay cool, thanks. I’ll be right back.”

 

I had my phone phone out once I locked the bathroom door, opened the email, and sighed at what I saw. 

An image of me.. leaning out the window of a Bass Industries Lincoln smiling at Chuck.. and then another image of me running into the Empire just a few minutes ago. 

Crap.

 

I quickly came up with an appropriate blast.. and set a timer to post. In 10 minutes. 

It’s getting rather difficult putting myself and.. Chuck on blast.

 

I flushed the toilet for good measure, washed my hands, and walked back out. 

Chuck was sitting on the couch.. already with a drink in his hand.

 

     “You know, I said I wasn’t going to drink again tonight.”

 

I smiled at him, and he smiled right back. 

 

     “I know, but you said that you weren’t. Nothing about me not drinking.”

 

     “Okay true. So, drink to your little hearts conte- I.. I didn’t mean it like that. Sorry..”

 

     “You’re fine Daniel.. I didn’t think you meant it like that anyways.”

 

He smiled again.. but it didn’t help the small pit in my stomach. 

 

     “So, I was thinking.. I wanted to order for you this time. Since you ordered for me last..”

 

     “If I let you do that, you’d just end up ordering me some kind of hamburger or something.”

 

I paused. I was going to actually. I wanted to see the look on his face and whether or not it was going to be as funny as I expected it to be.. I also just wanted to see if he’d even eat it.

 

     “Oh good lord Humphrey, really?”

 

     “What?! You ‘insulted’ me last time.. I wanted to see your reaction!”

 

He rolled his eyes at me then.. I really shouldn’t like that as much as I do.. If I’m being honest with myself.

 

     “Okay, fine. Order the food, Humphrey.”

 

Seriously, the name switching keeps throwing me off. 

But I think I’m seeing a pattern:

Daniel for when he’s being genuine.

Humphrey for when he wants to be *jokingly* rude.

 

Got it, at least I think so. 

 

————

 

A few minutes later, after I had the food ordered.. both of our phones went off.

It was the blast.

I pulled my phone out.. and attempted to feign irritation. 

 

     “Hey man.. I’m sorry but.. someone blasted us again.”

 

     “What?”

 

Chuck shot up, grabbed his phone, opened the message.. and sighed. Like his whole body sighed.. Crap. 

 

Maybe I should kill Gossip Girl. 

I would kill Gossip Girl for Chuck. 

But.. it would be too obvious if GG just randomly shut down after putting out blasts about Chuck and I.. 

 

Okay so maybe I can’t just shut it down. 

Maybe I should start filtering out tips on Chuck and I.. 

 

Yeah. I can probably get away with that. Screw whoever it was that keeps sending the tips in. 

 

————

 

I decided after all of that, that I did want to have a drink. I kind of hate myself right now.. but I can’t let that show.

I’m probably failing. 

I couldn’t bring myself to talk all that much.. I just absently replied back to Chuck whenever he said something. I didn’t have it in me to really.. engage. 

 

Eventually, the food arrived. Chuck uncovered his plate, and gave me the dirtiest.. fake look I’ve ever seen him make. It kind of made me feel better.. but not a lot. 

 

But what _did_ make me feel better is that the moment he bit into it, barbecue sauce dripped straight down onto his shirt. 

His pink shirt. 

 

I’m not laughing.

 

Okay I am laughing, extremely hard. That was great.. because the look on Chuck’s face made everything so much better. I’ve never seen someone simultaneously look so viciously angry and yet look as if they are about to laugh their head off at the same time.. 

 

     “I- I- I- am so- so- so sorry!”

 

I’m _still_ laughing.. like.. I can barely breathe laughing.. This is amazing.

 

     “Ha. Ha. Ha. You’re dead, Humphrey.”

 

     “Wait what?”

 

I didn’t even have time to react properly to him pulling apart his burger.. and throwing it at my face. I did manage to duck though. What the fuck Chuck?

 

     “Dude.. what the hell!”

 

This time.. he was laughing. Oh.. I get it.. the burger I ordered ruins his shirt so he gets to ruin my face.. okay. 

 

Game on.

 

I picked up a handful of fries.. generously coated in ketchup.. and launched them at him. 

He must have a slower reaction time than me, because by the time he moved, half of the clump made it on him.. and the rest allover the couch.. Shit. 

 

     “Oh crap.. Shit Chuck, I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean to ruin your co-“

 

Jesus christ, how did he manage to do that?! He just got me back with the other half of his burger.. that just smacked right in the middle of my chest.. oh gross. I liked this shirt.. but I’m sure he liked his shirt too..

I looked up then, to see Chuck smiling as wide as I’ve never seen before. He looked like he was trying to hold back laughter.. but he didn’t look mad.. he looked happy. 

 

     “Are you enjoying this, Charles?”

 

He continued to smile, but this time rolled his eyes.

 

     “Oh, what do you think? Your burger ruined my shirt, you ruined my couch, and I ruined your shirt. I’m having _so_ much fun right now.”

 

Even though it sounded sarcastic as hell, there was no heat behind it. I’m not kidding when I say he looked really happy.. Like he had never had a food fight before and was enjoying it. 

 

     “Well.. I hope you are. Because now we look disgusting and we can’t just walk out the front doors of the Empire to go ride around now..”

 

Chuck looked down at himself then, and then at me.. 

 

     “Huh. You have a point. As the son of the man that owns the place.. it would probably be frowned upon.”

 

     “I mean.. I could.. I don’t live here.. or own anything.. so they’d probably think I’m just some random disgusting guy..”

 

     “No.. no. That wont happen. Here hold on, go into my room and check in my closet for anything.. casual that you can change into. Just leave what you have on in the bathtub, the maids can get it tomorrow.”

 

He turned and walked into the other bedroom, and shut the door. I was a little perplexed.. and intrigued at having been told to go into _his_ room instead of the other one.. that apparently has clothes in it. 

I pushed open the door.. and wasn’t prepared for what I saw. 

All along the walls, were framed.. advertising posters. For Bass properties. Why Bass properties? Oh well, I’ll ask him later. 

 

Walking past the king size bed (while trying not to run my fingers over the bedding) I made my way into the bathroom, and stripped down. I bundled up my clothes.. and while pretty much only wearing my boxers.. walked into his closet. 

 

No literally, I walked into his closet. It was huge. Almost.. the size of my room.

 

He didn’t really have much of anything casual.. I don’t really get what Chuck thinks casual is. But it certainly isn’t any of this. Well.. oh wait. Here’s a black v-neck.. Actually. I thought it was plain black.. turns out it has a shiny “CB” embossed onto it.. of course Chuck Bass would have shirts with his initials emblazoned onto them. 

Oh well. As far as casual goes.. this is probably going to be as casual a shirt as it’s gonna get, but surprisingly enough.. Chuck has a lot of sweatpants. Well. Sweatpants are _definitely_ casual.. but unless he wanted to still go out.. I’m not about to waltz out of the Empire in sweatpants. 

 

I managed to find a pair of light wash jeans.. with a generous amount of holes in them. Like, a pretentious amount of holes. They fit though.. and if we left I’d probably just look like a frat boy friend of Chuck’s just joining him for a night on the town. 

 

After I finished changing, not bothering to put my boots back on just yet, I walked back out. 

 

Where Chuck was. In sweatpants. 

And the same matching shirt I’m wearing now. 

 

     “Well.. I think I overdressed for once..”

 

Chuck looked up from his phone at that moment, and his eyes zeroed in on the CB shirt I was wearing. The same one as his.. and.. did his eyes dilate?

 

     “Is, is this okay?”

 

He blinked, and met my eyes.

 

     “Yeah, yeah it’s fine. But I said casual.. I have a lot of sweatpants Daniel.”

 

     “I noticed, but I wasn’t sure if you still wanted to go out or not, so I just settled on these.”

 

Horribly ripped up things, I wanted to say. But did not. 

 

     “Yeah, I still want to go out. Gossip Girl tipsters be damned.”

 

I tried to fake a laugh.. I’m not sure if it was convincing though.


	5. Never ready to leave..

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people stop and stare at me before. But that might have been because I had Chuck Bass with me. Son of the guy that currently owned the hotel. The hotel we were currently walking through. 

In sweatpants (I changed out of the jeans) and matching black shirts. It was apparently enough of a sight to warrant almost everyone on staff we walked by to stop dead in their tracks, and then the few guests in the lobby to gawk at us. 

I don’t know about Chuck, but I was laughing on the inside thinking about how many people in here are _scandalized_ by him and I walking around such a prestigious hotel.. in such.. _slum clothing._

It didn’t last for long though, people quickly started to look away. As if some telepathic voice just told them all to go screw off. I chanced a look over at Chuck.. and he may have been said voice. The look on his face pretty much said ‘say something. I dare all of you, you all know exactly who I am.’ 

I don’t really know how to describe how I felt in that moment.. awed? Surprised? Although, at the same time I probably shouldn’t be surprised that Chuck can command that kind of respect in such a way. With just a look. 

 

It was kind of awesome. 

 

I had apparently kept looking at him enough times during the walk through the lobby, because he looked straight back at me, and smirked. 

At which point I almost walked straight into a column. Nice. At least he laughed a little bit, I however, would have been dead. Not physically, but emotionally. Beyond dead and embarrassed, and would have gladly sprinted home all the way to Brooklyn.. if I wasn’t wearing Chuck’s clothes. 

 

Which, shit, I am very obviously wearing a Chuck Bass shirt. Outside of the Empire. Where someone keeps managing to take pictures of us. 

 

     “Hey.. uh. Not to try and put a damper on anything, but do you realize I'm wearing a ‘Chuck Bass’ shirt, with you wearing the same one, both of us in sweatpants, walking outside the Empire, where we have already been blasted.. twice already?”

 

     “I do, in fact, realize that Humphrey. I also don’t care. Remember, ‘Gossip Girl tipsters be damned.’”

 

Okay, valid. He did say that. I’m a little.. unnerved by it though. Even though I control Gossip Girl… 

 

     “Oh, okay. You did say that.. I just-“

 

     “ _Daniel,_ are you the one now ashamed to be seen with me in public?”

 

     “What? No! Of course not. I was just thinking. Since I don’t even know who it was-“

 

     “Why would you be able to even know anyways?”

 

Whoops, probably shouldn't have-

 

     “Oh, no reason. I was just saying. Candidly. Because I’d like to know.”

 

Against my better judgment, I started to look around. Trying to see as many people as I quickly could, praying I could recognize someone.. but I didn’t. I also didn’t really have much time to get a thorough look because the limo had just pulled up..

 

     “Get in, Humphrey. Stop standing there.”

 

     “Yeah- sorry man. Hold on..”

 

     “Just get in. Stop looking for people.”

 

     “Fine.. fine, yes.”

 

I climbed in, and shut the door. 

 

————

 

My phone hasn’t vibrated in my pocket yet.. so that’s good. At least for now. I wasn’t exactly expecting someone to have immediately sent something in but still-

 

My phone vibrated, I pulled it out quickly and swiped it open but.. it was just a text from Serena.

 

**_S - Have fun! I just passed you both!_ **

**_D - Did you really?!_ **

**_S - Haha, yeah. Stop texting me back! I said have fun!_ **

 

I showed Chuck the messages, and he just rolled his eyes and huffed. 

 

     “We are just riding around New York, not flying to Paris.”

 

**_D - I showed him the messages, and he just rolled his eyes. Said we are just riding around New York, not going to Paris._ **

**_S - *eyes emoji*_ **

 

What does that even mean?

 

     “I’ve never been to Paris.”

 

     “It’s really not all that fun. Unless you’re taking someone. For romantic reasons.”

 

     “Well, looks like I’m never going to Paris then!”

 

I laughed a little too hard, and earned myself a weird look from Chuck.

 

     “Why would you never go to Paris for that?”

 

     “Well, Chuck, my bank account wouldn’t exactly agree with it. Plus, it just sounds a little cliche to be honest-“

 

     “Where would you want to go then?”

 

I have no idea actually.

 

     “I’ve never thought about it, honestly. Like I said, money is kind of an issue.”

 

     “No where off the top of your head?”

 

     “Uh- maybe Florence? Rome? Sydney? Mombasa-“

 

     “Why would you want to go to Mombasa?”

 

Because I’m a freaking nerd-

 

     “I play a lot of Halo.. my favorite levels are in Halo 2.. when you get to run around New Mombasa.”

 

     “So, you want to visit the future site of the Covenant invasion, for a romantic vacation?”

 

Dude, what?

 

     “Do you play Halo?”

 

     “I’m Chuck Bass, Humphrey, not a neanderthal.”

 

     “That doesn’t answer my question..”

 

     “I don’t.. play Halo. But I know about it. I’ve watched Nate play it a few times.”

 

Ah, Nathaniel. 

 

     “When was the last time you saw Nate?”

 

     “A few days ago, it was after you had Serena swindle me into coming over so you could apologize.”

 

     “Okay, wrong, you came of your own free will!”

 

     “Did I?”

 

     “Well.. I would hope so.. I’d like to think you were completely willing to hear me apolo-“

 

     “I’m kidding, Daniel. Yes I wanted to hear you apologize.”

 

Oh thank god.

 

     “Okay, good- but you haven’t seen Nate lately?”

 

     “I actually haven’t. I’m not sure why. He was irritated at me when I saw him last.”

 

     “Why? What did you do?”

 

     “I didn’t do anything, he just wasn’t particularly pleased with my reasons for dumping Blair.”

 

Oh.. so that’s like.. official official?

But wait, hold on backup. 

 

     “I told you that Blair ambushed me at Serena’s place right?”

 

The look he just gave me says that I, in fact, did not make him aware of that little detail.

 

     “Yeah.. It was the day after you had driven me home. When you had been following me along for like 3 blocks.”

 

     “I wasn’t following you.. you just happened to be walking along the same street I was on.”

 

     “Yeah, sure, whatever man.”

 

I smiled at him, and he rolled his eyes. He looked back, and motioned for me to continue- Oh yeah. I was talking about Blair.

 

     “So yeah. She just showed up at the VanDerWoodsen’s demanding an apology. Saying that since I apologized to both you and Serena, that she might as well get one too.”

 

     “Wait, how did she know that? I haven’t spoken to her until tonight- Nate.”

 

     “Nate?”

 

     “I told Nate you apologized to me, and he probably told Blair.”

 

     “Wait, why would he tell Blair, and why would they even be speaking?”

 

     “I have no idea.”

 

At that, Chuck seemed to shut down.

 

     “Hey.. what’s wrong?”

 

     “Nothing.”

 

Nope.

 

     “No.. something is wrong. Why does that bother you?”

 

     “It.. it just does. Not really any reason why.”

 

How cryptic of you, Charles.

 

     “Did you.. tell him anything else? Anything that would set Blair off?”

 

His eyes shot at me then, they looked panicked for a split second, but went back to normal. What was that?

 

     “No. I didn’t tell him anything else other than that.”

 

Okay then.

 

————

 

     “So, if money wasn’t an issue and you still weren’t sure where you wanted to go, what would you like to do?”

 

Again, never thought about it.

 

     “Go to the moon.”

 

Go big or go home.

Which apparently wasn’t amusing to Chuck.

 

     “Ha. Ha. Seriously, what would you want to do?”

 

Ugh. Why is this the pressing issue right now?

 

     “I don’t know Chuck. I probably wouldn’t want to stay here in New York, I can tell you that much. Travel? Leave? Go somewhere?”

 

     “I’ve never gone on a Trans-Atlantic voyage before.”

 

Huh. You know, that sounds like it could be fun.

 

     “That.. could work. For me. I’ve never been on an ocean-liner. I have yet to go to England, because money, and flying is so boring. A week long trip out on the ocean sounds nice.”

 

Chuck seemed to latch onto that, because then-

 

     “Have you looked at any?”

 

     “Looked at any what?”

 

     “Ocean-liners. Companies. Any particular company you’d like to go on?”

 

     “Well, Chuck, not really. Considering I’ve never thought about it until now.”

 

He squinted his eyes.

 

     “You’ve really never looked into taking a cruise before?”

 

     “Well.. why would I? I can’t afford it and plus.. the Titanic and everything.”

 

Okay, he was clearly not amused. If the loud sigh and very dramatic eye-roll was anything to go by. 

 

     “Jesus, Humphrey. Stuff like that doesn’t happen anymore.”

 

     “No I know, I meant the love story.”

 

He raised an eyebrow at me.

 

     “It was so cheesy.”

 

     “Daniel, if you were going on a cruise, you’d be with someone. Why would you be worried about a cheesy love story?”

 

     “Okay, maybe not the same exact love story. Sure, I can start off the cruise with someone I like, and then halfway through fall madly in love with said person. We can have our Jack and Rose moment at the back of the ship while it’s sinking.”

 

The more I thought about it, the more appealing it actually became. Stupid love story to tell the kids? Grand kids? Heck yes. 

 

Although, that would require whoever I was with to want kids. 

But, why does Chuck care about me going on a cruise?

 

     “Is there anyone at the moment that..you would like to go on this imaginary cruise with?”

 

     “I’m not sure, Humphrey. I’m still deciding.”

 

Deciding? On what?

 

     “Deciding? So there is a potential someone?”

 

He had a smirk on his face now.

 

     “Potentially.”

 

This is about the only annoying thing that I have discovered about Chuck, he likes to be cryptic when he knows it’s going to annoy someone.

 

That someone being me.

 

     “Alright then..”

 

     “But, I think they’re too oblivious to figure it out though.”

 

     “Well.. Cheers to whoever it is. Once they do find out.”

 

I’m definitely _not jealous_ of this mystery person, but Chuck, again, seemed to just be annoyed at my response. 

 

     “What? I can only imagine how irritated you are!”

 

     “Oh, you have no idea.”

 

I can feel this going downhill very quickly. 

 

     “Are you okay?”

 

     “I’m fine, Daniel.”

 

     “You don’t seem fine.”

 

     “I am. I just don’t really know how to make it more obvious.”

 

     “Make what more obvious?”

 

     “My feelings towards the person I like.”

 

     “Well, who is it?”

 

     “You’ll find out eventually.”

 

Well, not at this rate.

 

     “No, really. Who is it?”

 

     “I’m telling you, Daniel. Once they figure it out, I’m sure it’ll blow up big enough to where even you could see it.”

 

So, I guess it’s safe to say that it isn’t me. 

And for some reason that hurts a lot more than I expected it to. 

I never once assumed Chuck liked me back, although I did think it was odd.. how we’ve been acting. So far my friendship with Chuck hasn’t exactly been what I would consider a normal bro relationship..

 

Huh. It wasn’t normal. By any means. 

 

———— 

 

We fell into idle chatter after that.

 

     “How are you and your dad?”

 

He had been staring out the window, but he looked over at me. His face looked soft.

 

     “We are fine. After you had left, Serena and I had to sit him down and tell him everything was okay between us. He wasn’t thrilled, but, it’s not his problem so he left it alone.”

 

So, Bart apparently doesn’t take that much interest in Chuck’s friends.. 

 

     “I’m sorry. I mean, if that’s a bad thing.”

 

     “It’s not. I don’t like my dad being involved with my relationships.”

 

Friendship.. you mean.

 

     “It didn’t create any problems, did it?”

 

He was still looking at me. Slouched down a little in his seat.. just looking. He looked so relaxed. I just wanted so badly to reach out and-

 

     “No, it didn’t. We are fine. Are you and Rufus okay?”

 

     “Yeah, he’s fine. We never really have any problems. Well until recently, when I kept coming home so late. But he said he doesn’t really care unless I come home safe, and so far you’vedone a good job of making sure that nothing has happened to me each night.”

 

He smiled at that, just a small one.

 

     “Of course, Humphrey. What are friends for?”

 

Again.. I wanted so badly to just reach out and touch him. His arm, shoulder, face..

 

     “You’re staring.”

 

Oh, shit. 

 

     “Oh- uh, sorry. I spaced out.”

 

     “Do you want to go home?”

 

     “Not really.”


	6. Nothing ventured.. Nothing gained.

Another moment with Chuck, another reason for me to fall deeper. 

I can’t help it. Like everything before, it keeps happening. 

 

And I can’t help it. Nothing really even happened this time.. after I said I didn’t want to go home.. his whole body visibly.. relaxed. Like he was holding himself together, in anticipation for something. As if he wasn’t expecting me to say that. 

 

It struck me. 

Am I the one he keeps talking about?

Am I the oblivious one? 

He kept deflecting whenever I pressed him further to tell me who it was. But he still never said who it was. Never gave me anything. Not even a hint as to the sex of the person he was talking about. But the more I replay everything in my head, and I really mean everything, the more I start to think he’s been talking about me this entire time. 

I want to ask.. but I also don’t. Because what if it isn’t me? 

 

And if it is me? What am I going to do? Just jump immediately into something with Chuck? I didn’t exactly set out on this for a chance to swindle Chuck into.. something. 

 

I don’t want to swindle him into doing anything. 

I just wanted to be his friend. I want to be there for him. Because while I’m sure Chuck has friends.. but are they really his friends? Do they ever check on him? Do they ask about him? Do they have dinner with him? Do they have food fights with-

 

You’re rambling again. You’re standing in his bathroom.. you can’t be in here forever. 

 

You’re gonna have to go out there eventually. 

 

What do I say?

 

Do I want to say anything?

 

Sigh. I don’t know. I do, but I don’t. Why is this not easy? It was easy with Serena. Actually, wait, she initiated that. She technically asked me out. I’ve never asked anyone out.. I don’t really know how to do this. 

 

Chuck asked me out.. but not like that. He asked me to go out with him, not to.. ya know.. go out. With him. 

 

Ugh. Why am I making this difficult for myself? This should be easy. Clear and concise. 

 

Just walk out there, and try not to ruin the friendship that you have with Chuck. 

 

————

 

Chuck was lounging on one of the couches, scrolling through his phone. 

 

It was an adorable scene. 

 

He had run his hand through his hair.. so it was all sticking up. Still slicked backwards, but ruffled up.

 

His right arm was up behind his head, his fingers twirling a lock of hair around. 

 

Oh my god. He’s so cute when he thinks no one is staring-

 

He looked up finally, and sat up. 

(I didn’t pout on the inside.) 

 

     “Hey..”

 

     “I’m in your place.. do you really have to say hey to me every time you see me?”

 

I smirked at him, and he rolled his eyes.

 

     “Would you prefer that I didn’t pay any attention to you?”

 

He smirked right back.

 

     “Well, actually, no. I like the attention.”

 

His eyes did something weird then.

 

     “Really?”

 

     “Yeah, sure.”

 

     “So.. have you figured it out yet?”

 

Figured what out- oh. Maybe. But I don’t want to say anything. I don’t think I’m ready to hear the answer.

 

     “Figure what out?”

 

He sagged a little bit at that.. No. Stop. 

 

     “Nothing, Humphrey.”

 

     “No, stop that. Are you talking about what you said in the car? About who it is that you like?”

 

     “Yes, Daniel.”

 

     “Then no, I haven’t figured it out.. But I have a guess.”

 

     “Yes?”

 

     “Is it yourself?”

 

Chuck flinched.

 

     “Jesus, Humphrey. Is it impossible for you to take me seriously?”

 

What?

 

     “What? No.. Chuck that was a joke.. I was kidding.”

 

     “So, you think it’s a joke that I like someone who doesn’t like me back?”

 

     “No, of course not. You’re the one that refuses to tell me who it is..”

 

     “It doesn’t really matter, he-“

 

He?

 

     “doesn’t seem to care anyways. Nothing has changed apparently.”

 

What?

 

     “I just can’t believe you. I thought you said you changed your mind about me!”

 

     “Chuck.. what are you talking about?”

 

     “I’m talking about **YOU!** This ENTIRE time! It’s you!”

 

Holy fuck. 

 

     “Wh- what? Chuck.. that isn’t funny..”

 

     “Seriously Humphrey? Why would I joke about that? Do you really still think so negatively of me?”

 

No!

 

     “Chuck, absolutely not.. I just don’t understand-“

 

     “Of course you don’t. I supposed this entire time you just thought this was normal, what we were doing?”

 

Well, no actually.

 

     “Not.. really. I didn’t know what to think of it.”

 

     “Obviously.”

 

     “Chuck this isn’t fair.. you haven’t given me a reason at all this entire time to think you were talking about me.”

 

     “Seriously? I told you I changed my mind about you!”

 

     “Yeah, sure, okay- but how exactly does that translate into ‘Oh hey, I’m Chuck Bass the guy that has hated you forever for no reason and I actually like you’?”

 

     “Humphrey, I literally told you that I felt something for you.”

 

     “No you didn’t.”

 

     “Yes I did!”

 

     “No, Chuck, you didn’t. You just said that you changed your mind about me. You didn’t say anything else.”

 

Chuck paused then.. I’m assuming he was going over the conversation from the other night.

 

     “Oh.. I- I thought I did.”

 

He had been looking down at the floor.. he sighed, and looked up. 

My heart broke. 

 

     “I’m sorry Daniel.. I thought I did. I’m so sorry.. this entire time I thought you were playing coy and I kept trying to be subtle with bringing it up but you never.. caught on. Fuck. I- I-“

 

I didn’t give him the chance to get another word in, I moved quickly. Ran, actually. I wrapped my arms around him-

 

     “Stop.. stop. It’s okay, Chuck. I’m sorry. I didn’t now. I probably should have though.. but like you said.. I’m kind of oblivious.”

 

His body shook a little, and a small sound escaped his mouth. I could feel his breathe ghosting across my neck, and his arms wrapped tighter across my back.

 

     “I’m an idiot.”

 

     “No you’re not.”

 

     “No, I am. 

 

     “Chuck, stop. You aren’t an idiot.”

 

     “Humphrey.. I should have been more direct.. I was playing it safe. I thought that since you never mentioned it again that you weren’t a fan of me liking you. I panicked. I wanted to be subtle. We had just confessed something with each other, I had found a friend.. someone to just be with.. and I was terrified. That you were going to drop me.”

 

Oh my god. Has he really been dealing with this the entire time?

 

     “Chuck.. I’m not going anywhere.”

 

     “You will. Everyone leaves.”

 

I let go of him, took his face in my hands, and made him look at me.

 

     “I’m not leaving. I’m not Blair. I’m not anyone else. I’m not leaving you.”

 

A single tear dropped down his face.

 

     “I promise.”

 

     “Why?”

 

     “Because I like you too.”

 

He reached up then, took my hands off his face.. and leaned in.. but for a second I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead.. he just hugged me, and held on. I hugged back, and he buried his face in my neck. I rubbed my hands up and down his back.. feeling the shaking muscle underneath. My god.. has this really been eating him alive?

 

     “Chuck.. are you okay?”

 

     “Mmpfh.”

 

     “What?”

 

He moved his head up..

 

     “Yeah.. I’m perfect.”

 

————

 

We eventually.. well.. made it to his bed. 

Nothing happened. I think Chuck was too emotionally drained from what happened.. It was a lot of emotion at once. He had cried a little into my shoulder, and I know this isn’t something Chuck is used to.. nor what he likes. So, I just let him have his time.. 

 

     “Stay the night..?”

 

Always.

 

     “Do you want me to?”

 

     “Yes.. come on.”

 

He lead me by the hand into his room, and started stripping the bed of pillows, save for 2, and climbed in. I followed. 

 

     “Big spoon, or little spoon?”

 

Chuck laughed at that. Good. 

 

     “Big spoon. I want to hold you.”

 

Perfect.. because when it comes to guys I’m the-

 

     “Okay, come here Bass.”

 

We laid down, he wrapped his arm around my chest, scooted up and.. we fit together perfectly. 

His legs up behind mine, his hips flush with my.. well.. lower half, his chest against my back.. and his face pressed up against my neck. 

 

It was nice, actually. I could actually feel the stress and emotion leak out of him.. which then made me relax.. and when I relax.. I.. 

 

————

 

I bolted upright in the bed. 

 

I was breathing heavily.. holding my chest. 

 

Did last night actually happen?

 

I look around the room.. and realize I’m still in Chuck’s bed. 

 

Oh, so it did happen.. we just went to bed.. with each other.. and slept. That was good.. don’t want to give the wrong impression on the first.. night. 

 

I laid back down.. and realized I was alone. Huh? I looked around.. saw the clock.. and it was 11:13.. AM?! I slept that much?! 

 

But.. where was Chuck?

 

A door opened, and closed somewhere in the suite. I got up.. composed myself, and walked out. 

 

Sure enough, it was almost midday. The light streaming into the windows gave that away. Chuck had just walked in.. fully dressed. In his normal suit and tie.. carrying a bag.. and out of the top of that bag was a rather large envelope.. that looked like he had a big red “ **C U N”** across the top of it.. but that’s all I could see. 

 

He looked up at me, and flashed me a gorgeous smile. All teeth, all eyes.. even his eyes squinted a little bit.

 

Fuck, he’s precious. How could anyone not know about THIS Chuck Bass?

 

      “Hey, you finally woke up.”

 

He sat the bag down on the table, pulled the envelope out but hit it in his jacket..

 

     “Yeah.. whatcha go there?”

 

     “Oh. Just a little something. For you.”

 

He reached down into the bag, and pulled out a wide flat box, but there was nothing on it. I turned it over and-

 

      “Burberry?”

 

I looked down in the bag.. and there was another one.. but this one was orange and it said-

 

     “Hermes? What did you get me?”

 

     “Open them.”

 

I opened the one in my hand, and it was a scarf. Tan cashmere, with a blue, red, and brown plaid pattern on it. Classic Burberry. Also happened to match the one that Chuck was wearing right now..

 

I reached down to open the other one, and inside was a neatly folded black silk scarf-

 

With “D.H.” embroidered on it. 

 

They were both scarves.. and gorgeous.. but why?

 

     “I.. they’re beautiful.. but, any reason why scarves? Not that I’m complaining-“

 

He reached back into his jacket then.. and pulled out the envelope from earlier. 

 

Except this time I could clearly see what the big red letters spelled.. and a gold insignia.. like a Royal emblem in the middle of it. “ **C U N A R D”**

 

Cunard? Where have I seen that before? I swear.. I’ve seen that before.. was it on the side of something? What was-

 

I have. I’ve seen it before.

 

On the side of a giant ocean-liner. 

 

These were tickets.. for passage.. on a Trans-Atlantic ocean-liner. 

 

     “Because.. you’ll need them. It gets cold out in the middle of the North Atlantic..”

 

He was looking up at me.. with a sly smile on his face, and mischievous eyes.

Oh.. so that’s why he wanted to know where I would want to go if I had the money.. but I don’t.. 

But Chuck does. Lots of it. 

 

     “Oh my god.. you booked us a trip? To England?”

 

He nodded.

 

     “We leave tomorrow.”

 

What?

 

     “What? Chuck I can’t really just leave-“

 

     “It’s taken care of.”

 

Again, what?

 

     “What’s taken care of?”

 

     “I already talked to your dad.”

 

     “You went and saw my dad..?”

 

     “Well, not just me. Serena, Lily, Nate, and Blair all went. We figured we might need a team to convince your dad to be okay with it. Since you haven’t mentioned me to him yet..”

 

He held his original look.. but those eyes were somehow even more mischievous than before.

 

     “Oh.. well.. I didn’t really know how to tell my dad about you.. Since he thought it was weird that you brought me home that one time-”

 

Wait, did he say Blair-

 

     “Wait. Hold on. Blair? Blair was there?”

 

He laughed, apparently hadn’t expected me to focus on that little detail..

 

     “Yes. Blair was never actually mad at me.. We’ve been done for awhile. When Nate told her that I liked you, because yes I told Nate that, Blair was actually fine with it. She just wanted to see you at Serena’s to.. I don’t know. Decide if you’re actually worth it. Worthy of me. I guess she decided you were.. since she was here last night to tell me that, and then when you knocked on the door she assumed it was you and decided to act like she was mad. Just to save face.”

 

Huh. That actually made sense. Okay cool, now back to the main issue-

 

     “So, was my dad upset? Or anything? What happened?”

 

     “No, actually. After the initial confusion of all of us coming at him at once, Lily sat him down and made the rest of us stop talking. Lily is apparently the only one that can speak Rufus.. because at the end of it he was just smiling and nodding, and essentially saying he was okay with everything.”

 

I.. didn’t know what to say. For once.. I couldn’t actually speak.

 

     “Did I just stun you into complete silence, Humphrey?”

 

He wiggled his eyebrows.. and I still couldn’t speak.

 

     “That’s fine, Daniel. It’s actually still up to you- I mean, If you want to go-“

 

     “Yes.”

 

He paused.. his mouth open.. and slowly spreading into a smile.

 

     “I want to go. With you.. but.. Which ship are we taking?”

 

He laughed suddenly.. and couldn’t stop shaking while he was trying to hold the rest back..

 

     “What?! There’s only like.. what? 3 or 4 Cunard ships in service right now? They come through here every week, I’ve seen them!”

 

He managed to breath eventually and..

 

     “Daniel, there’s only 3 right now. The newest one hasn’t launched yet, but we are going on the Queen Mary 2. She’s the only one of the ships that crosses the Atlantic and back. We are also.. well. Open the envelope.”

 

I tour it open rather forcefully.. and unfolded what was inside. Sure enough, those were our tickets, brochure, information on the room- 

 

The room.

 

More like apartment at sea.. 

 

     “Two story.. luxury suite.. private balcony.. private dining.. on-call butler.. Oh my god, Chuck..”

 

He had walked over, took the papers out of my hands and sat them down, then wrapped his hands around mine.

 

     “I just want the best available.. I want your first experience as my-“

 

Boyfriend?

 

     “As your.. what?”

 

     “Will you.. be with me?”

 

I laughed a little…

 

     “What? Can’t bring yourself to say boyfriend?”

 

     “No.. it’s not that. Boyfriend just sounds so.. immature. I don’t want anything like that with you.. I honestly want to be with you.”

 

Why did that sound like a proposal?

 

     “You’re not proposing to me are you?”

 

The response was a rather loud burst of laughter..

 

     “No.. no. I’m just saying.. I want something meaningful with you, and I wanted you to experience what I have to offer you..”

 

     “Chuck.. I don’t want what you can offer me.. I want you. Everything else is a bonus!”

 

I winked at him.. and he smiled and nodded.

 

     “Noted. Now lets go.. We need to get you a wardrobe to wear. There kind of is a dress code on these ships..”

 

     “That’s fine.. Just get me on that ship. With you. Everything else doesn’t matter.. I can deal with being “high society” for two weeks.”

 

To punctuate the fact that I was poking fun at him, I leaned forward.. Chucks breath caught in his throat.. and I moved over, and kissed him on the cheek. I moved back, and he looked up at me again. 

 

So many emotions were displayed across his face.. but it looked like pure joy. His eyes were glowing, his smile was soft. He just looked.. happy. I wanted that look to last forever. 

 

============

 

It was perfect. 

 

Everything was perfect. 

 

We left the Empire.. and went straight to.. whoever it was that made Chuck’s clothes. Apparently they were all custom to him.. but Chuck and I have enough of a matching physique that it wasn’t too big of a job to have clothes made for him and I. It was mostly just evening wear. 

 

The rest of the clothes came from several stores.. that I’ve only ever walked by before. Never looked in, no point when you don’t have money.. but now.. 

 

Here I am. Sitting in Chuck’s living room staring at the 15 bags full of clothes thatI have in front of me.. 

 

Burberry, Prada, Gucci, Tom Ford, Moncler, Bvlgari (there was a V instead of a U), Saint Laurent.. So much. 

 

Maybe too much? I didn’t pick anything.. but apparently everyone knows who Chuck is (duh, of course) and they all elected to bring me selections that were appropriate.. I was told to try them on.. and come out with what I liked. 

 

What I did liked, got bagged up. With matching accessories too. 

 

I don’t even want to know how much was dropped at Louis Vuitton for my bags.. 

 

Chuck went all out. 

 

Was it too much?

 

I pulled my phone out.. and frowned. I had a Gossip Girl email waiting.. multiple emails actually. I begrudgingly opened them.. even though I could guess what they all contained. Pictures of Chuck and I.. out shopping. 

 

I was correct. There were 7 tips in the hotline.. all pictures of Chuck and I. 

 

I looked around to see if Chuck was out of the shower yet.. and after deciding I was in the clear.. I sent them out. 

 

But I didn’t send out blasts, per se. 

 

“ _Spotted: our dear Dan Humphrey, aka Lonely Boy, may not be so lonely after all. It seems to me that our King of the Upper East Side, may have found his royal prince. What is King Bass of the Upper East Side doing with Prince Humphrey of Brooklyn? Sources tell us a rather.. expensive royal trip is in order, and we all know Prince Humphrey needs a wardrobe change… It warms my little heart to say.. Bon Voyage to our New York_ ** _Royalty._** _Until next time, you know you love me. xoxo Gossip Girl._ ”

 

I set to post in 24 hours, after we leave. 

I couldn’t help but smile.. and I could feel myself blushing. 

I couldn’t help it. 

 

I know I keep saying that.. but it’s true. 

 

I closed out of the emails, snapped a pic of the bags, and sent it to Serena with a caption asking if it was too much.

 

**_S - Dan?! What is all of that?_ **

**_D - Chuck thought he would take me shopping.. for this trip. You know, the one that you went to talk to my dad about this morning._ **

**_S - He got you that much?! Dan.._ **

**_D - So it is too much?_ **

**_S - No! It’s actually a good thing.. you know Chuck isn’t good with emotions and stuff.. This is actually him trying to show you how much he cares._ **

 

I hadn’t thought of it like that.. he wasn’t just buying me these things because I needed them.. he was trying to tell me everything he felt. 

 

Well, message received loud and clear Charles.. 

 

**_D - Oh, I understand now.. Thank you Serena.. for everything._ **

**_S - It’s nothing Dan, don’t worry about it. Just go, and have fun!_ **

 

Just then, Chuck had walked out of his room.. with a towel wrapped around his waist. 

 

     “Everything okay?”

 

I looked up.. and smiled.

 

     “Everything is perfect..”

 

He smiled back. 


	7. The 90's called. They want their movies back.

It was day 2 of our trip, and I couldn’t be more in love. 

I’m serious. 

My cheesy love story idea.. actually happened.

I'm falling hopelessly in love with Chuck Bass..

 

But, on top of everything else, this has been perfect. 

 

Our room was as secluded as you could get on a giant ship.. but the private service was enough to make you think you were the only people on board. 

Hell, we honestly could have been the only people on board for all I know, I didn’t see a lot of people when we boarded in New York.. maybe that’s normal?

Ever since we left New York, we’ve stayed in. Stayed up all night, slept in until late morning. Had dinner on the balcony the first night, breakfast in bed the next morning.. and lounged around. We haven’t left the room yet. 

 

We honestly haven’t done anything else, and I don’t even feel any pressure. Chuck seems to genuinely just want to spend time with me, and I’m loving it. It’s really endearing.. 

 

I love him so much already. 

 

Right now, he’s in front of a mirror getting dressed in a dinner tux.. and I’m sitting on the bed in my boxers. 

 

     “Shouldn’t you.. I don’t know.. Get in the shower already so we won’t be late?”

 

Tonight was the first night we were going to join everyone else for dinner. 

 

     “Maybe. But I’m fine with just watching you right now.”

 

He was looking at me through the mirror, and rolled his eyes.. but it was an affectionate eye roll. 

He had gotten better and showing his emotions through his face.. his real face. Not a mask. 

 

No more mask. 

 

He turned around and cocked his eyebrow-

 

     “Still, you should probably get ready.”

 

     “And why should I listen to you, Charles?”

 

I smirked at him then, but he retaliated by straightening up, putting his hands in his pockets, cocking his head to the side, eyebrow still raised-

 

     “Because I’m Chuck Bass.”

 

============

 

     “Would you two like a picture?”

 

A female photographer had came out of no where, startling me a little bit, but Chuck looked unfazed, and looked at me. I shrugged.

 

     “Yeah, sure.”

 

We had been sitting.. kind of next to each other.. but a little spread apart. Our backs were to a window overlooking the setting sun. 

 

     “Great! Could you scoot a little closer..?”

 

We scooted closer.. and I almost bumped my head against the life preserver behind us..

 

     “Awesome! 1…2…-“

 

I looked over then. Chuck was smoldering for the camera.. but then looked down at me.. 

 

We were smiling, just staring at each other when- FLASH. 

 

     “Oh! That’s so sweet! Here, it’s already uploaded on my iPad..”

 

She handed it over.. and both Chuck and I gasped.

 

     “Oh.. is it okay? I can take another one!”

 

We both started at the same time-

 

     “Oh, no!”

 

     “It’s just..”

 

     “It’s-“

 

     "Yes..?"

 

     “It’s the Parent Trap picture. You know, the one from the movie?”

 

I looked back down.. and sure enough. It was the same scene, pose.. everything. 

 

I love it. 

 

     “It’s perfect, thank you miss..”

 

Chuck had handed the iPad back to the woman, and she smiled and walked off… he stared off into the distance for a second before coming back to me..

 

     “Oh my. How cliche..”

 

I couldn’t help the sudden fit of laughing.. and neither could Chuck.. 

 

————

 

After a few pointed looks from the other guests.. and a lot of happy smiles (unexpected) we managed to get ourselves under control enough to finish our dinner. 

 

Once everything was over.. we made our way towards the back of the ship..

 

It was kind of cold out. We had our matching scarves on, and were just walking along the deck.. hand in hand. 

 

How could I have ever thought this was going to happen? 3 weeks ago if anyone had told me this is where I’d be in this moment, I would have laughed in their face.

 

But here I am.. walking along the curve of the stern of the ship.. until we got to the middle.. and Chuck stopped.

 

     “You know.. I cant believe the wrong cliche happened.”

 

     “What do you mean?”

 

     “It was the wrong movie.”

 

     “What?”

 

     “The Parent Trap.. not the Titanic.”

 

     “Oh.. Yeah. It’s kind of funny.. The Parent Trap never entered my mind at all to be honest. Not to mean that we can’t still have our Titanic moment.”

 

I winked at him-

 

     “True.. Too bad we cant be at the bow for this.”

 

     “For what?”

 

Just then, he gently pulled me in front of him, turned my back against his chest, and wrapped his arms around me. 

 

     “This.”

 

I had already looked at him, mostly just to see what he was talking about when-

 

He kissed me. It lasted a few seconds.. just lips.. nothing else. 

 

It was sweet.. but also something else. It was like he was channeling everything he felt through the kiss and.. it was perfect. 

 

He pulled back, looked into my eyes-

 

     “You jump, I jump.. right?”

 

     “Right..”

 


End file.
